Equality body should be abolished, says report

A report out today has called for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to be scrapped.

Civitas said the quango “contributes very little to meaningful equality in Britain today”.

It argues that abolishing the EHRC would come at “no obvious cost” to the general public and save the Government millions of pounds.

The report criticises the EHRC’s use of statistics to demonstrate unfairness in Britain, saying that it “makes little attempt to establish what, if anything, is responsible for these differences”.

Civitas believes more attention should be paid to important influences like cultural practices or environment.

It noted the different conclusions that could be drawn when looking at the statistics on the life expectancy of Pakistani women.

The EHRC concludes that there is unfairness in Britain because British-born women live an average of 80.5 years, while women of Pakistani origin living in Britain live an average of 77.3 years.

Civitas believes the assumption of unfairness is inaccurate because it overlooks the much larger difference between Pakistani women living in Britain (77.3) and women living in Pakistan, who live on average 10 years less (67.5).

"This indicates not only that individuals of Pakistani origin appear to benefit from residence in the UK, but that much of the difference in life expectancy could be explained by environmental and social challenges in other countries, not 'unfairness' in Britain," said Civitas.

The organisation concludes that the EHRC's goal of equality is "impractical" because it wishes that life outcomes could be "entirely divorced from health limitations, cultural practices and lifestyles".

It went on to question whether the quango represented "value for money", saying that it had been "dogged by problematic accounting practices since its inception".

It accused the EHRC of wasting money on high salaries and questioned levels of reimbursement for travel expenses, drivers and accommodation.

Civitas said: "Ultimately, abolishing the EHRC itself would not just be a cost-saving exercise. It may well present an opportunity to channel resources into addressing the most pertinent issues holding back equality and fairness."

The EHRC has faced fierce criticism from Christians in recent months over its failure to intervene in instances of discrimination.

The Evangelical Alliance accused it of contributing to the marginalisation of people of faith by buying into a "narrow secularising agenda".