Government thinking on discrimination law appears in the form of their Response to the Better Regulation Task Force review. The Task Force was appointed in September 1997 to advise on improving regulation by reference to "transparency, accountability, targeting, consistency and proportionality".
Its May 1999 report, cautiously, proposes only limited changes. Unsurprisingly the government has broadly accepted its proposals.
The government - in agreement with the Task Force - sees no role at this stage for any major legislative overhaul of the existing laws, and no merger of the EOC, CRE and DRC. They do, however, recommend greater co-ordination between the three equality commissions, and between the commissions and government, and they agree that the Race Relations Act, Sex Discrimination Act and Disability Discrimination Act, should cover all public services.
The impact of European law is acknowledged, and in particular the EC initiative to develop a directive to combat race discrimination both inside and outside the employment context. The Task Force had also recommended that the provisions of the European Burden of Proof Directive (applying to the Sex Discrimination Act with effect from July 2001) should be extended to cover race and disability. Although the government acknowledges the need to maintain consistency between the equality regimes, they are cautious in committing themselves to an extension of the Directive to the Race Relations Act, and they firmly state that it should not apply to the Disability Discrimination Act. A similarly cautious response is given to the suggestion that there be clarification of the legal position on sexual harassment through a Code of Practice: "the government agrees that further guidance on good practice will help" is as far as they go.
The Task Force highlighted the lack of consistency and expertise between different tribunals and recommended monitoring tribunal performance and providing them with additional training. It also questioned the division of discrimination cases, with tribunals dealing with employment related disputes and the courts dealing with discrimination in the provision of goods and services. The government confirms that it is planning research into the operation of the tribunals, but remains to be convinced that there is any need to change the current arrangements with the courts dealing with goods and services cases.
The Task Force also recommended the extension of time for lodging tribunal complaints from three months to six months, on the grounds that this would enable parties to seek to settle by negotiation or arbitration. This is rejected by the government: a further delay would lead to the parties' recollection of events fading, and would conflict with the underpinning principle that tribunals are to provide a speedy resolution of employment related disputes.
Disappointingly, in relation to extension of the Sex Discrimination Act to cover discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, the Task Force goes no further than proposing a clarification of the law in a non-statutory form, such as a code of practice.
The government agrees with this: "a non-statutory Code which outlines good practice is a sensible approach..." In the short term we cannot look forward to legislation outlining discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.
The Task Force is more decisive in relation to section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 which requires employers to identify from job applications who may be illegal immigrants. The effect of this has been to encourage widespread discrimination by potential employers against ethnic minority applicants. The Task Force recommend that section 8 be repealed. However the government do not agree, emphasising the need to combat illegal employment in line with the steps taken in other European states.
Finally, the Task Force levels some criticism at the complexity of the Disability Discrimination Act, recommending that clear and concise guidance be given on the application and operation of the Act, and also that the fifteen employee threshold be abolished. The Government's response again does not offer much hope: they do not address the criticisms of the complexity of the Act, though they state that the fifteen employee threshold will be reviewed.
Overall therefore neither the Task Force review nor the government's response are groundbreaking, and we cannot expect any significant changes in the law as a consequence.
This fits in with the Government's clearly stated intention that there are to be no further significant legislative changes in the equality legislation, at least in this term of government, over and above what is contained in the Employment Relations Bill.