Quality | 2009.07.17
Lady Campbell's resignation adds to crisis at EHRC
• Disability campaigner said to be unhappy with chief
• Quango\'s budget and work criticised by politicians
The troubled Equality and Human Rights Commission faced further internal disarray today with the resignation of Lady Campbell, the fourth senior figure to quit the organisation this year.
The peer, a respected disability rights campaigner who hit the headlines this month for her opposition in the Lords to a bill to legalise assisted dying, is understood to have quit in response to the reappointment, on Wednesday, of Trevor Phillips as the commission\'s chairman.
Phillips\'s leadership has been marked by internal tensions in recent months and politicians have questioned whether the organisation has produced enough work of sufficient quality to justify its £70m annual budget. Until this week, there was speculation he would not be given a second three-year term.
Harriet Harman, minister for women and equality said that the creation, in 2007, of the EHRC (which brought together the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission) "was always going to be challenging".
She said the commission needed to achieve more. "I think the commission recognises, and we would take the view, that the commission needs to do more in terms of delivery and engagement with stakeholders," she said.
Amid concerns about the size of the organisation\'s payroll, the Government Equalities Office said this week that it would be streamlined, and the number of commissioners reduced from 16 to 11. Harman said a smaller commission with a "sharper focus" would "help the commission refocus its work".
Campbell\'s resignation follows the departure of a former chief executive, Nicola Brewer, a fellow commissioner, Kay Hampton, and the director of strategy, Patrick Diamond, all in March. Another EHRC commissioner, Bert Massie, said in March that there was serious concern among several commissioners over its direction and performance.
Campbell, a former commissioner of the Disability Rights Commission before it was merged into the EHRC, said she would not be making any public comment on her decision to stand down.
Maria Eagle, the minister responsible for EHRC in the Government Equalities Office, said: "I have great deal of respect for Jane Campbell and the work she has done for the commission. She\'s a great person; losing someone of Jane\'s calibre is a loss for the commission."
In a statement, Phillips said: "It was with great sadness that I was told about her resignation. I am sure that we will be working closely with her in the future on our shared agenda."
Senior figures who have left the EHRC have criticised Phillips\' management style, his closeness to government, and his decision to shift the commission\'s approach: moving the emphasis away from tackling inequality and discrimination and focusing instead on "fairness", a concept which has no basis in law.
Phillips was widely criticised by race organisations in January when he called for an end to the use of the term "institutional racism".
Lobby groups campaigning for women\'s rights have also expressed disappointment with its achievements. Katherine Rake, the outgoing chair of the Fawcett Society, said: "In challenging economic times, women in the UK need the EHRC to be a powerful and vocal champion of their rights. While there have been some useful interventions, they have remained silent on a number of issues of critical importance to women and, on others, appear to have set the debate back."
The work of the EHRC will be exposed to further scrutiny on Monday, when the National Audit Office publishes a report explaining why it was unable to approve the body\'s accounts.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/j[...]esignation-equality-commission
