§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with chief officers of police regarding his proposals to amend the Race Relations (Amendment) Bill to make public authorities subject to legislation forbidding indirect discrimination. [109212]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe Commission for Racial Equality's Third Review of the Race Relations Act 1976 recommended, among other things, that the Act apply to all activities of Government and to all public sector bodies. The Association of Chief Officers of Police responded positively to this recommendation, as part of the Government's public consultation on the Commission's proposals, indicating support for it. The Association reiterated that support in March 1999 in the context of the recommendation in the Report of the Inquiry into the Death of Stephen Lawrence that the full force of the Race Relations legislation should apply to the police.
The Government had initial concerns that including indirect discrimination in the Race Relations (Amendment) Bill might leave public bodies open to routine legal challenges to regulatory, economic and social policies in circumstances where these were entirely proper, in particular those that helped ethnic minorities the most. On balance, however, the Government concluded having listened carefully to the arguments put forward about this issue in Parliament and elsewhere that the risk of spurious challenge is outweighed by the principle of including indirect discrimination in respect of public sector functions in the Bill. No further formal public consultation was conducted.