QC warns of race duty

The counsel to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry last week told employment lawyers that public authorities and some private companies should act to avoid potential race discrimination cases.Anesta Weekes QC told the Employment Lawyers Associations annual conference in Cardiff that she welcomed the Race Relations Act 2000, which, inspired by the Lawrence inquiry, introduces a wider statutory duty for public authorities to promote racial equality actively.Public authorities may initially be alarmed at the idea, and think this will create extra paperwork and take up time, said Ms Weekes.

However, in implementing this duty we are simply mirroring other countries.However, she stressed that the details of the legislation would be clearer once the Commission for Racial Equality had issued its guidelines on implementation, and Home Secretary Jack Straw had set out clear instructions as to which authorities had to fulfil specific duties.Before these specific instructions come into force, authorities should review all their policies, practices and procedures, assess whether ethnic minorities are affected by them, and take steps to adjust them, Ms Weekes said.She said commercial companies will be caught by the Act if any of their functions are of a public nature but companies will have to decide this themselves.

This will not be easy, but generally if any transactions are carried out for private profit, then they are unlikely to be included under the Act.VIctoria MacCallum