Do government proposals to expand the use of public procurement do enough to promote equality of opportunity? asks Christopher McCrudden
In an important but largely overlooked move, the Department of Communities and Local Government published its consultation, A Framework for Fairness: Proposals for a Single Equality Bill for Great Britain, on 12 June. The proposals, resulting from the work of the Discrimination Law Review (DLR), look to initiate wide-ranging debate during the autumn and beyond about how far governments should go in legislating to promote equality of opportunity.
A significant element in the government’s proposed strategy is to step up the use of public procurement to achieve change in the private sector, as part of the existing statutory equality duties in the areas of race, disability, and gender. The consultation paper says:
“We are keen to ensure that public
authorities build equality considerations into their procurement processes, within the overarching legal and policy framework for public procurement, where this will contribute to the achievement of their equality objectives.”
POLICY SHIFT
This statement may appear anodyne, but it is a further indication of a significant shift
