§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment her Department has made of the proportion of employers who(a)fail to comply with legislation and (b)use good practice regarding (i) equality of opportunity and (ii) human rights. [175146]
§ Ms HewittThere are no formal assessments of the above compliance levels. As far as equality for opportunity is concerned, we would need to obtain information from Employment Tribunals and the Courts which could be done only at disproportionate cost and would not provide a complete picture.
Nevertheless, the Government are committed to ensuring compliance across the equality agenda, and, in respect of the public sector or public sector services, compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998. Many of our leading businesses already recognise the benefits of equality of opportunity in the workplace and we are working with them to disseminate good practice more widely. There are also many examples of good practice in the public sector. We expect the proposed Commission for Equality and Human Rights to take a prominent role in furthering the adoption of good practice in the private and public sectors.