Justice 2 Committee, 25 Nov 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Official Report 231KB pdf

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Mainstreaming Equality

Item 4 on our agenda is mainstreaming equality. Members have received a paper from the clerk on correspondence from the convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee. Feedback is invited on the steps that committees plan to take on mainstreaming equality in their work. Specifically, the committee is invited to consider and agree to the Equal Opportunities Committee's recommendations.

It is obvious that there is broad support for the work of the Equal Opportunities Committee; that support is also reflected elsewhere, beyond this committee. The paper mentions three of the Equal Opportunities Committee's recommendations, the third of which—recommendation 7—relates to what we might do in our annual reports. There is also a reference to the Procedures Committee's recommendation. It is not for me to pre-empt the debate that will take place tomorrow afternoon on the report of the Procedures Committee from the first session of the Parliament, but I know from speaking to other conveners that there is a slight concern that committees should not lose their autonomy of operation and their flexibility. At the Conveners Group, there was some discussion of annual reports and the Procedures Committee's views on them. The clear view of all parties who were represented at the Conveners Group was that a report should be a factual reflection of what the individual committee had been doing and that no preconceived template should be laid down.

I hope that that background to recommendation 7 is of some assistance. Members might think it appropriate simply to reflect that mainstreaming equality is an essential part of our work and that we should comment on it in our annual report if it is appropriate and necessary to do so, rather than there being a prescriptive direction on us to do so.

As I read it, recommendation 7 does not prescribe the form in which we should reflect mainstreaming equality in our annual report. We could, therefore, come to an accommodation that would meet the marginal concerns that you expressed and which other conveners have expressed, while still adopting the principle that, where possible, the annual report should reflect how we have mainstreamed equality in our work. I do not think that it is anything to die in a ditch over.

I agree. I was merely reflecting the earlier discussions to which I was privy and which I thought I should share with committee members. By their nature, recommendations 2 and 5 mean that the committee will be concerned with equalities issues as part of its activity. I think that we should take that as read, but I was a little uneasy that we should then have a further obligation placed upon us in relation to the content of our annual report. If we are doing the job properly, we will have observed all those matters. If we are not doing the job properly, I am sure that there will be organisations external and internal to the Parliament that will bring that to our attention.

Do recommendations 2 and 5 enjoy our support?

Members indicated agreement.

Does the committee have a view on recommendation 7?

We should support it. If we want to, we could note that we support recommendation 7 on the understanding that it does not prescribe a means by which we must reflect mainstreaming of equality in our annual report.

That would be a sensible way of moving forward. We should support the concept that, if it is appropriate, we should refer to mainstreaming equality in our annual report, but we do not want a prescriptive direction to be placed on the committee. Does that summarise the committee's view?

Members indicated agreement.