Justice 1 Committee, 12 Nov 2003

Meeting date: Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Official Report 216KB pdf

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Mainstreaming Equality

We have a paper from the convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee about mainstreaming equalities in committees. The Equal Opportunities Committee has made a number of recommendations. Two members of that committee sit on our committee; we are grateful for that continuity. Does Margaret Smith or Marlyn Glen want to say something specific on the matter?

The matter has gone through Parliament and it has also been accepted by the Conveners Group. The paper proposes that we put some mainstreaming best practice into the on-going work of the committees. We do not want to add on equalities issues at the end of the process; they should be an integral part of the process. One of the things that we are asked to do in the guidelines from the previous Equal Opportunities Committee is to take equal opportunities into account in primary legislation and to ask whether bill sponsors—Executive or otherwise—have assessed the implications.

We must also consider the on-going work of the committee and how we work. We have to think about equal opportunities when we discuss whom we should take evidence from and how we should set up consultation events to ensure accessibility for various groups. The paper is intended to make us stop and ask ourselves those questions. People might immediately think that, in policy terms, equality is fundamentally about gender issues, but there are other areas to consider, particularly in relation to disabilities, age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and race. We are dealing with a wide area.

No one on the Equal Opportunities Committee is expecting everyone on all of the committees to get this absolutely right from day one, but we hope that all the committees acknowledge that they will have to do their best to ensure that such issues are taken on board in their legislative scrutiny and working practices.

Margaret Smith and I, as members of the Equal Opportunities Committee, are tuned into the issue, but that does not preclude other people from being tuned into it as well and I am sure that they are. It is important that responsibility for the issue is not left to members of the Equal Opportunities Committee but is mainstreamed into the work of both of the justice committees. I should say that I think that that is the case and I am quite impressed by that.

I hope that we can agree to the recommendations and ensure that they are taken on board.

I have no difficulty with the recommendations, which seem simply to emphasise our role. It occurred to me that when most of us examine legislation, we genuinely try to do so with the various equality issues in mind. Similarly, we have always tried to ensure balance when calling witnesses to give evidence. However, the proposal takes that a stage further and asks us to analyse the steps that we have taken.

Are members happy with the recommendations from the Equal Opportunities Committee?

Members indicated agreement.