Clarification from Equalities Minister on the aims of the Red Tape Challenge

Lynne Featherstone, Minister for Equalities has recently released a statement to reassure stakeholders that the inclusion of the Equality Act 2010 on the Red Tape Challenge website does not mean that the Government wishes to abolish it.

Here is what the statement says:

'...However, the presence of the Equality Act 2010 on the Red Tape Challenge website has raised some concern amongst some stakeholders. I’m therefore writing to clarify the Government’s position.

Firstly, I would like to assure you of this Government’s strong commitment to equality.  We are not changing direction on this.   We set out our commitment in the Coalition Programme and Theresa May, the Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities,  set out the Government’s approach in more detail in the Equality Strategy published last December. 

Secondly, as the website now makes clear, a particular regulation being featured on the Red Tape Challenge website should not be read as implying any intention on the part of the Government to remove that regulation.

Indeed, the Home Secretary stated in Parliament on 5 May, in reference to the Equality Act’s inclusion on the Red Tape Challenge website, that "it is not the Government’s intention to abolish the Equality Act.’  

Instead, the Government wants to hear from members of the public, businesses and voluntary and community organisations about how the Act is working in practice. We want to know whether the Act could be simplified, better implemented, or if certain provisions should be dropped or amended, or whether it should be kept exactly as it is.

From June 9 until June 30, the Red Tape Challenge will have a spotlight on the Equalities theme, which will be facilitated by Caroline Waters, Head of HR, at BT. During this period, I would like to invite you to visit www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk and participate in an informed debate on how we can deliver better regulation.

Any proposals for change would receive careful consideration as to whether they were proportionate, practical, beneficial and in keeping with our wider commitments and EU or domestic legal obligations.  Any proposals that passed that test would need to go through the appropriate consultation and Parliamentary process.

I hope this helps to reassure you and clarifies what we are aiming to do.  We welcome your input to the Red Tape Challenge website and all relevant consultations.'

Protect equalities and take the Red Tape Challenge

As discussed in a prior blog post, the aim of the Red Tape Challenge website is to seek your views on the ways in which to, primarily, rid business of the burden of regulations and the bureaucracy associated with them.  

Many comments on the website have expressed deep concern over the inclusion of the Equality Act, as it represents decades of fighting for social justice and fighting for protections from discrimination in the workplace.

9 June 2011: spotlight on equalities

Every few weeks the Government publishes all the regulations associated with a particular sector on the Red Tape Challenge website. The Red Tape Challenge will be turning the spotlight on equalities regulations on the 9 June 2011 for approximately three weeks.

During this time there will be an external facilitator from the Government to stimulate debate and facilitate more specific questions in relation to the Equality Act (as well as existing questions which include, ‘should they be scrapped altogether?’).

The appointed facilitator might organise other events to stimulate debate or indeed target the business press, so there may be opportunities to comment or participate in this consultation elsewhere. 

It will be very important for individuals and organisations to post on the site during this time, even if you have already done so. The equalities section should appear on the front page from 9 June, but in the interim you can access existing comments on equalities under the General Regulations.

The last thing we want to do is give the Government a mandate to dilute or take steps to reverse equalities legislation, which is the hallmark of a progressive society. So please post a response.  

Beat the Red Tape Challenge

The UK Government are asking businesses, organisations and the public to take part in the Red Tape Challenge.

The Red Tape Challenge website seeks your views on ways in which to, primarily, rid business of the burden of regulations-and inspections and bureaucracy that goes with them.

This is an interesting consultation process, with its intention to ‘open up Government’ to the public and stimulate debate and discussion to find out ways ‘existing regulation can be fulfilled in the least burdensome way possible.’

The site goes on to say that ‘presence of a particular regulation or law on this website should not be read as implying any intention on the part of the Government to remove that regulation or law from the statute book.’

So why ask the question ‘should they be scrapped altogether’? If enough people said yes, then as a beacon of democratic accountability that is exactly what the Government should do?

My dubiety is strengthened by the inclusion of the Equality Act 2010, a piece of legislation which sticks in the throat of a Government who firmly believe in meritocracy.

So far there have been 5043 individual responses to ‘equalities regulations’, many of whom are aghast at the thought of losing some hard fought for equalities legislation.

Without the Equality Act it would be lawful to pay a woman less money for the same work, sack a woman after she marries and sack a woman for being pregnant. The list could go on.

So I would urge you to take the Red Tape Challenge, if only to ensure this Government does not manage to get a mandate to reverse the equalities legislation, the cornerstone of a progressive society.

Record four female directors at Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival is underway and this year there are four female directors in the running for the Palme d'Or . Last year there were none.

It is the most women in one single year since Cannes started in 1946.

An improvement nonetheless, but as Charlotte Higgins discusses in the Guardian there is a chronic shortage of female directors in the industry.

Birds Eye View, whose aim is to 'celebrate and support international women film makers' suggest that only 6% of directors and 12% of screenwriters are women. The UK Film Council 2010 report states that of the number of UK titles released in 2009 only 17.2% of directors were women and 16.5% of writers were women. 

The reasons why there are so few women are familiar; women are responsible for the majority of care at home, the lack of access to business networks make securing funding and sponsorship difficult, the 'macho' culture and the need to constantly prove your technical credentials that comes with working in a male-dominated occupation are also a problem.

As Lynne Ramsay said on the lack of women directors, "it is a bit like a country not being filmed – and that country not having a voice. It really does matter."