Equality Bill & Procurement Conference (March 2010)

In March 2010, the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) hosted an event for employers to discuss the Equality Bill and in specific, its impact of a new equality duty on public body procurement, which stipulates, under secondary legislation, that public bodies must require their suppliers to comply with primary equality legislation to win contracts.

Around 75 delegates attended the event, held at the Queens Hotel in Leeds, and facilitated by Viv Duke, CEO of Equality Accreditation Service and member of CREC's Flexible Working Group. Briefings were given by Alan Christie, Director of Policy for the EHRC on the business case for equality in procurement and Alison Pritchard, Head of Strategy for the Government Equalities Office, on the equality bill and procurement. The briefings were followed by presentations from BT on supplier diversity, and Committed 2 Equality on equality standards and their place in the public sector supply chain, and a Q&A session hosted by Anj Handa, Commercial Director for CREC and Head of Employment & Skills Partnerships for Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.

The duty on public bodies is in line to become enforcable from April 2011, which leaves procurers and suppliers one year to set out and begin implementing their revised objectives. The substantial questions raised during the day have prompted Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce to explore the issue further.