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Get a grip, Trevor Phillips told as MPs probe equality watchdog
Nicholas Cecil, Deputy Political Editor27 Jul 2009
MPs are to investigate Britain's equalities watchdog which is in turmoil over its leader Trevor Phillips.
Six commissioners have quit the troubled organisation and it faces growing question over its financial affairs.
The Commons communities and local government committee, which oversees the work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, is now set to demand answers from its chairman Mr Phillips, 55, about its management and finances.
The committee's Labour chairwoman Phyllis Starkey told the Standard: "I imagine that when we return in the autumn we may well be wanting to review the operations of the EHRC.
"The commission does incredibly important work. The current row is an unwelcome diversion. Trevor clearly needs to take steps to address the concerns and bring the organisation together. He needs to get a grip."
The probe is expected to be part of a broader inquiry into the Communities Department.
The commission was heavily criticised by a public spending watchdog for paying nearly £324,000 to seven senior staff re-employed after taking generous early severance packages.
The National Audit Office refused to fully sign off its accounts after it paid out the consultancy fees without Treasury permission.
The commission has admitted it had not followed the rules when it re-employed seven people who had taken redundancy from a predecessor, the Commission for Racial Equality.
It also accepted it had not followed EU procurement rules when awarding a £300,000 contract to a company reportedly run by a friend of Mr Phillips, though it insisted the deal had provided value for money.
Juniper TV, headed by Dr Samir Shah, was employed to produce short films for the launch of thecommission.
Ben Summerskill, of gay rights group Stonewall, on Friday became the sixth out of 16 commissioners to quit, attacking Mr Phillips's leadership style. He urged him to stand down from his £120,000-a-year post.
Baroness Greengross, vice-president of Age Concern, is also thought to be considering quitting as a commissioner. And in what appeared to be a further blow to Mr Phillips, the watchdog's director of communications Kamal Ahmed has resigned to take up a senior job at a national newspaper.
Friends insisted he still fully supported the chairman and the commission's work, but found the recent turmoil challenging.
A commission spokesman insisted that under Mr Phillips the organisation had a "clear sense of direction".
Reader views (12)
Scrap this expensive quango, get rid permanently and without compensation all those at the top.
Trevor Philips is a leech on taxpayer's backs, doing nothing but stoke the fires of inequality by promoting positive discrimination.
In NuLabour logic, this isn't discrimination !
- Cap, London, 27/07/2009 16:54
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Trevor Phillips and his EHRC are just a part of what's become the race relations industry in this country. It was the insufferably pompous Roy Jenkins who was the architect of the Race Relations Acts. They are out-of-date now and should be repealed so that we can have a free market in social attitudes.
- Richard Kennard, Welling, 27/07/2009 13:42
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Close it down. The only people benefitting are Trevor Phillips and his cronies working out new ways to hit the till.
- Jilly, London, 27/07/2009 13:33
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DHAN RAJ, BASILDON - I'm listening to you: I notice your comment was completely racist and sexist - doesn't that bother you?
Having witnessed appalling racism and sexism whilst living in South Africa, I'd say most people in the UK 'don't know they're born'. The foundations of equality needed laying and have now been built upon: what the UK now needs is a meritocracy, where it doesn't matter who you ARE because you are esteemed for what you do or do not DO.
Things like the Racial Equality Commission perpetuate the myth that the 'minorities' it allegedly represents need assisting to get on in life. This is utter rubbish: there are people from all backgrounds in prominent positions in all walks of life - many have encountered and over-come as much resistance from their own kind as they have from others. These Quangos are devisive and set up one group of people to feel like they are victims who need helping and another group to feel like they are oppressors who should feel guilty - mostly, this social stereotyping is inappropriate and their very presence is causing the antagonism. These Commissions are just one big gravy-train at the tax-payers expense - how much money do they cost for how much effect? People from all backgrounds should be united in their disgust of them - THAT'S the kind of thing that really makes Society 'gel' . . .
- Roz, France, 27/07/2009 13:08
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Dhan, don't be let groups like this patronise you and make you think you need them. Only you can make yourself succeed. Margaret Thatcher didn't need the help of any equality laws or quangos to become the first female prime minister in 1979. Barack Obama did not become the first black American president thanks to any sort of positive discrimination.
- Kevin T, Beckenham, Kent, 27/07/2009 13:00
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@ Dhan Raj, Basildon
Yes thank goodness for the EHRC, because before this waste of money quango was set up we did nothing to deal with any of these issues.
Oh, hang on a minute what are these Laws doing here?
- Equal Pay Act 1970, 1975, Amendment 1984
- Sex Discrimination Act 1975 Amendment 1982
- Race Relations Act 1976 Amendment 2000. Amendment Regulations 2003
- Employment Act 1989
- Disability Living Allowance and Disability Working Allowance 1991
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992
- Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993
- Race Relations Remedies Act 1994
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005
- Employment Rights Act 1996
- Asylum and Immigration Act 1996
- Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Idiot.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 27/07/2009 12:07
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I just give up with the lot of them.
whats this early retirement pay offs them reinstating. This must need to be investgated and the retirement pay offs paid back.Or is that too much to ask
- Terence Mccarthy, south africa, 27/07/2009 10:37
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Thank goodness for the EHRC otherwise we ould still be at square one with white middle class middleaged men setting the rules and the agenda. Anyone with a disability or gay or aged or black or a qoman can now make their point be heard and listened to.
- Dhan Raj, Basildon, 27/07/2009 10:36
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While the spectacle of watching Britain's top "equality" czars calling each other racists offers a certain entertainment value, do we really need this ridiculous, expensive quango? The only people it really represents are the well-paid bureaucrats who sit on it.
- Kevin T, Beckenham, Kent, 27/07/2009 10:34
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I suppose I am from a minority group (am gay), but I really don't see the need for this body which I think does more harm than good. All we need are effective laws to outlaw discrimination (we now have those). Then it should be a matter of who is best suited to do a particular job based only on merit: there must be no hint of positive discrimination of any kind. These sorts of bodies suck up public money and will never escape the taint of special pleading. One for the knife I think.
- Alan, London, 27/07/2009 10:27
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I agree totally with Frank. Giving people jobs purely because of their colour, sexual orientation or creed without little or no consideration for their ability is the reason why, when people of this ilke are promoted beyond their capabilities, they rush off to the nearest tribunal screaming victimisation. If I was told I was not up to the job, I just shrugged my shoulders, accepted it on the chin and got on with life.
- B Gare, Norfolk Gorleston, 27/07/2009 10:25
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Labour have created this Minority-Monster of selection and promotion based entirely on colour, creating broken systems as a result of corruption and incompetence. This is then enforced by the fear of huge compensation payouts when the inevitable race claim goes to court.
The idea of employing somebody because they are right for the job, regardless of colour, gender or creed is completely alien to this failed government.
Equality? Please!
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 27/07/2009 09:16
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