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Britain
Back from the diversity brink in Britain
2011-03-18
Controversial plans to ask state workers sensitive questions about their sexuality and religious beliefs are likely to be scrapped.

Just two months after setting out the requirement for 27,000 public sector bodies to carry out detailed "diversity audits" of their staff, the Government has signalled an about-turn.
Now they can afford that No Fly Zone over Libya.

Observe, President Obama: this is how a government makes budget decisions.
A "policy review paper" says the burden of red tape will be reduced and revised draft guidelines make no reference to private information about employees being collected or published.

The rules came about as a result of Labour's far-reaching Equality Act, which also allows employers to reject male job applicants in favour of women who are no better qualified, and bans questions about health at interviews.

Under the public sector Equality Duty, spelled out in official documents in January, state bodies with more than 150 members of staff were required to disclose how diverse their workforces are.

It was expected that accurate data would be obtained through "routine monitoring" on "the race, disability, gender and age distribution of your workforce; an indication of likely representation on sexual orientation and religion and belief,
"George looks gay, and Sarah is either Jewish or Muslim -- she sounds Geordie, which doesn't indicate... But Yusuf definitely needs that wheelchair, so we'll put him down for 'disabled'. We need at least one tick in that box."
provided that no-one can be identified as a result; an indication of any issues for transsexual staff, based on your engagement with transsexual staff or voluntary groups; gender pay gap information; grievance and dismissal".

The Government's own consultation documents admitted that equality officers at large public bodies would have to spend eight days a year working on the data, with the help of a statistician, and in total the equality requirements could cost up to £29.8million every year.
Posted by:lotp

#2  We could get an affirmative action Prime Minister...?
Posted by: admiral allan ackbar   2011-03-18 21:02  

#1  Could the UK be any more F%$*up???
Posted by: FrancisChalk   2011-03-18 19:52  

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