The joint parliamentary committee on human rights (JCHR) last week welcomed government plans for a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights - proposed to replace existing commissions for racial equality, disability rights and equal opportunities - but recommended that the new body should be accompanied by a single Equality Act.

The JCHR said the new body should have power to bring judicial review cases, but not in respect of individual cases.

The Law Society last month called for the proposed body to have increased powers to bring litigation (see [2004] Gazette, 11 March, 5).

A spokeswoman for the Society said: 'We are pleased that the JCHR has emphasised the need for a single Equality Act, which the Law Society has been advocating for some time.'

Jeremy Fleming