Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

We've had the Employment Relations Act 1999, and now the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 has been passed by parliament and is planned to come into force in April 2001.

For the first time, the Race Relations Act 1976 will be extended to cover the activities of bodies and public authorities such as tax inspection, law enforcement and customs and excise. It has been a gaping hole in the existing legislation that has exempted some public authorities from liability for racially discriminatory acts in the exercise of their public duties. The Stephen Lawrence inquiry helped highlight the urgent need for legislative reform in this area.

There will also be a general duty placed on a wide range of public authorities to work towards the elimination of unlawful discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different racial groups. Some authorities will also have specific duties imposed on them which are not yet finalised and will be contained in a future statutory instrument. A consultation exercise is being undertaken on both the specific duties to be created and whether to extend the range of public bodies to be covered by the general duty. One crucial issue will be the extent to which private sector companies delivering a public sector service with state funding should be subject to the same high standards as public authorities themselves. There is a risk that the creation of two-tier standards will be a boon to private contractors and speed the process of privatisation and outsourcing.

The Act continues the trend in recent legislation to impose duties specifically on public authorities. The Human Rights Act introduced a duty on public authorities to act in a way which is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights while the rest of us have to rely on courts and tribunals interpreting existing law to comply with the Convention where that is possible. It means the difference between creating a new legal right - a legal obligation owed by the public authority towards others, and a general shift of emphasis while applying existing law. In Northern Ireland too a duty on public authorities to promote equality of opportunity is contained in the legislation which will be looked at more closely in a future issue.

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 also contains some employment specific provisions which go some way to plugging other gaps. Many public and government appointments are expressly outside the scope of the Race Relations Act by Section 76. 
This will be amended when the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 comes into force.

Discrimination in relation to an appointment to an office or post will cover the terms of the appointment, access to opportunities for promotion, transfer or training or any other benefits, facilities, or services once appointed, and the termination of the appointment or subjecting the person to any other detriment.

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 does not go as far as many would have hoped, but it is at least an improvement on the current flawed legislation and for that, is to be welcomed.