Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance (1) departments; and (2) the Equality and Human Rights Commission; have issued to (a) public sector, organisations and (b) private-sector, organisations running internships schemes which are not open to certain groups based on their protected characteristics.

The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) prevents employers from treating people more favourably because of a particular protected characteristic. The positive action provisions in the Act along with certain disability provisions allow some limited exceptions to this general principle of discrimination law, and employers need to understand how these exceptions work in order to use them effectively and avoid straying into unlawful positive discrimination.

In April 2023, the previous government published guidance to help employers understand the difference between positive action and positive discrimination. The guidance is available on gov.uk at www.gov.uk/government/publications/positive-action-in-the-workplace-guidance-for-employers.