Parliamentary Briefing: Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill 2012 - 2013

Public bill committee briefing, House of Commons July 2012

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has examined the government’s proposals to use the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill to amend the Equality Act 2006 and remove or amend some of its powers. The Commission concludes that these changes are unlikely to have a significant adverse impact on its work.

However, the government could use this opportunity to strength the Commission’s accountability to Parliament, thereby making the Commission better able to fulfil its mandate as Britain’s equality regulator and a National Human Rights Institution in accordance with the Paris Principles.
The Commission would also stress the importance of functions that the government has said it is removing from the Commission’s remit, such as the helpline, funding for voluntary organisations and legal advice, the air travel complaints service, and conciliation and mediation services. This is a matter for the government and the Commission does not have a view on who should assume provision of these, however, these functions play an important role in ensuring people are able to access the protections of equality and human rights law.

Last Updated: 05 Jul 2012