Harman says more work needed on inequality
Ms Harman first announced the launch of the panel in June
Wednesday, 10, Sep 2008 12:10
Deputy prime minister Harriet Harman has announced the creation of a new National Equality Panel, saying more work needed to be done to make Britain a fairer society.
Speaking at the TUC conference this morning, Ms Harman, who also holds the position of minister for women and equality, said: "Equality matters more than ever and it is necessary for individuals, a peaceful society and a strong economy."
The independent panel will be made up of academic experts in inequality. It will be chaired by leading academic John Hills, director of the centre for analysis of social exclusion and professor of social policy at the London School of Economics.
The panel will analyse levels of inequality in Britain and publish its findings by the end of 2009.
It plans to provide a factual analysis of how equality trends have changed over the last ten years and map out exactly where gaps have narrowed and widened in society. It will also investigate how people's life chances are affected by gender, race, disability, age and other aspects of inequality such as where they were born, what kind of family they were born into, where they live and their wealth; and show how these factors relate to each other.
Ms Harman said while progress has been made on tackling inequality more needed to be done.
"We have made great progress on tackling inequality but we know that inequality doesn't just come from your gender, race, sexual orientation or disability. What overarches all of these is where you live, your family background, your wealth and social class," she said.
"While we have helped millions of people over the last ten years through policies like Sure Start, tax credits and the national minimum wage, we want to do more.
"To advance equality through our public policy, we need clarity of evidence and focus on the gaps in society and how they have changed over the last ten years.
"The robust evidence base that the panel will produce will help us properly target measures to address persisting equality gaps and build on the good work that we have already done."
Professor Hills added that British society continued to be marked by great differences in the positions of different groups. "It will be the job of this independent panel to map these out on the basis of the most authoritative information we can compile, and to identify areas where challenges to policy remain," he said.
The announcement comes on the same day the vice chancellor of Cambridge University criticises the government for attempting to force elite universities into accepting more pupils from state schools and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Professor Alison Richard is expected to rebuke government attempts to redress the inequality balance, telling The Times newspaper that it was not the job of universities to "fix problems of social mobility".
Speaking at the annual conference of Universities UK today, Professor Richard is expected to welcome increased government interest in higher education but also suggest such interest can "encourage meddling".