Equality Law: Call for Evidence

Seema Malhotra Excerpts

Monday 7th April 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Seema Malhotra)]

I am pleased to announce the launch of a call for evidence on equality law, an important step in this Government’s missions to break down barriers and make work pay. This call for evidence aims to gather comprehensive insights from expert stakeholders in order to shape future policy development and potential legislative reform.

Equality is a key factor in delivering long-term and sustainable growth across the UK economy. It is essential that individuals can achieve according to their talents, irrespective of their background. This not only maximises individual opportunity but enables businesses to employ the best person for the job, leading to increased productivity, innovation, and economic resilience, driving up household incomes and putting more money in working people’s pockets.

Our goal is to understand how we can better remove barriers to ambition and success for everyone, to improve the lives of working people and strengthen our country as part of our plan for change.

We are seeking evidence and views on the following areas:

the prevalence of pay discrimination on the basis of race and disability;

making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people;

measures to ensure that outsourcing of services can no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay;

improving the enforcement of equal pay rights by establishing an equal pay regulatory and enforcement unit, with the involvement of trade unions;

improving pay transparency;

strengthening protections against combined discrimination;

ensuring the public sector equality duty is met by all parties exercising public functions;

creating and maintaining workplaces and working conditions free from sexual harassment;

commencing the socioeconomic duty.

We invite responses from anyone with evidence in these areas. Contributions will be crucial in shaping the steps we take towards achieving a fair, prosperous and equitable society for all. A copy of the call for evidence on equality law has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and will be available on www.gov.uk.

[HCWS578]