§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the provisions of the Race Relations (Amendment) Bill will alter the responsibilities of chief officers of police to ensure that ethnic officers and civilian staff have fair treatment and equal opportunities for promotion and for allocation to specialist units. [137205]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe provisions of the Race Relations (Amendment) Bill will, once enacted, impact upon the responsibilities of Chief Officers of Police in a number of ways. First, they will make it unlawful for them and their officers to racially discriminate when enforcing the law. They are already covered with regard to their employment function and to the extent to which they 403W provide goods, facilities and services. Secondly, Chief Officers of Police will be made vicariously liable for acts of racial discrimination by officers under their direction and control. Thirdly, Police Authorities are made subject in the Bill to the new duty to be placed upon specified public authorities to work towards the elimination of unlawful racial discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups. This duty will cover functions performed by Chief Officers' of Police other than operational ones by virtue of their implementation of Policing Plans under the Police Act 1996. Consideration is currently being given to whether Chief Officers of Police should be listed themselves in respect of their operational functions which fall outside those plans, using the order making powers contained at section 71(5) of the Bill.
The Bill will therefore reinforce the responsibilities of Chief Officers of Police to ensure that ethnic minority police officers and civilian staff and, indeed, members of the public are not discriminated against on racial grounds.