Quality | 2010.03.15
Equality chief Trevor Phillips censured in cross-party report
Head of watchdog is blamed for a failure to tackle human rights abuses
The scale of in-fighting at the government\'s equalities watchdog is laid bare today in a cross-party report which blames its chair Trevor Phillips for a failure to tackle human rights abuses and questions its close ties to New Labour.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission\'s strategy is "too vague" and should be completely rewritten, the Joint Committee on Human Rights concludes.
Phillips is subject to severe criticism. In evidence to the committee, one of six commissioners who resigned last year claimed to have felt intimidated by Phillips when questioning his decisions. A lobby group labelled the commission\'s leadership "closed", "cliquey" and "manipulative".
The report is also critical of Harriet Harman, the equalities minister, for reappointing Phillips unopposed last summer at the height of the row that led to the commissioners\' resignations.
The report also says the body\'s "credibility across the political spectrum would be enhanced if it included at least one commissioner with links to the Conservative party".
The EHRC employs more than 500 members of staff at an annual cost of £70m. It has also come under intense criticism from the government spending watchdogs for the "patently flawed" merger of three equality bodies that led to its creation at a cost to the taxpayer of almost £39m. Last week its head of finance, Tracy Allison, became the latest high profile employee to resign.
In past months the commission has fought back, publishing widely reported inquiries into the abuse of workers in supermarkets and the excessive use of police stop-and-search powers and arguing against full-body airport scanners.
Today\'s report condemns the EHRC\'s reticence to voice concerns over key human rights abuses, such as the policing of last year\'s G20 protests, but suggests that it has begun to "get its house in order".
But it adds: "There would appear to be irreconcilable differences of view about relatively straightforward matters."When the human rights minister Michael Wills gave evidence he said: "I do not think [the EHRC] are doing enough to promote human rights ..." adding that its strategy had been "too full of aspiration and too light on what I would call concrete goals that can be delivered within a specified time frame". The report says: "These are strong criticisms from the minister specifically charged with overseeing human rights across government and we entirely agree with him".
The report says: "In our view, merging three equality bodies and developing a strong corporate board for the new body, making use of the expertise and talents of all commissioners, are challenging tasks and we conclude that in the early years of the EHRC\'s existence this was not done successfully, for which the chair must bear responsibility."The committee chairman Andrew Dismore said: "No one expected the commission to transform the way public services are delivered, or attitudes to human rights in the UK in its early existence, but we are concerned that the EHRC has not done enough, well enough, on human rights issues. Major questions remain over the leadership of the EHRC."
A spokesman for the EHRC said: "It\'s disappointing that the committee has allowed itself to be distracted by events dating back to 2006/7 rather than focusing on our record over the last year, and by the comments of a small number of unhappy ex-board members which were rejected by other board members who gave evidence.
"The commission has addressed many of the concerns about its governance and management since then and they are no longer relevant."Today, the commission publishes a report on police use of stop-and-search powers. As reported by the Guardian last week , it reveals that across the country as a whole black people are stopped and searched at least six times the rate of white people and Asian people are at least twice as likely to be targeted. The report suggests racial stereotyping and discrimination are significant factors behind the higher rates. The study looked at 42 police forces and the commission will now write to those with the most disproportionate use of stop and search tactics over possible breaches of the Race Relations Act.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/15[...]ips-equality-commission-blamed
