Dear All
FYI – the government has responded to its consultation on proposals to
repeal the third party harassment provisions within the Equality Act.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/third-party-harassment/consultation-response?view=Binary
What struck me by the governments response is that they argue that there is no evidence that the provision is needed, yet also noted that there was no evidence that it wasn’t needed, and that they didn’t have enough evidence to judge if
the removal of the provision would have a differential impact on different work force groups with protected characteristics e.g.
·
“very little of the response to it,
either for or against, was directly based in evidence”
·
We agree with respondents that the lack of hard evidence
and specific case-law concerning third party harassment means that the impact assessment has to contain a number of assumptions the basis for which may be open to question”
·
“we have little quantifiable evidence that people with specific
protected characteristics would be disadvantaged by our proposal.”
It is also worth noting that 71% of respondents were against
the repeal. It’s nice to know that evidence is the basis for government decisions
Darren
Darren Mooney BSc, MA
Diversity & Equality Officer
Human Resources
University of Liverpool
Liverpool
L3 5TQ
T: 0151 795 5975
W:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/hr/diversity_equality/
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