EQUALITY & DIVERSITY FORUM: HOW TO USE THE EQUALITY ACT 2010

In Birmingham today, for an event sponsored by the Equality and Diversity Forum (EDF), entitled "How to Use the Equality Act 2010". The Equality and Diversity Forum is a network of national organisations committed to equal opportunities, social justice, good community relations and respect for human rights. Its objectives are:

• To promote equality and in particular the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or any combination thereof;
• To promote Human Rights;
• To promote for the public benefit the efficiency and effectiveness of Voluntary Sector Providers working in the areas of age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and Human Rights or any combination thereof;
• The advancement of conflict resolution or reconciliation between competing strands of equality and diversity.

This event sports some high level speakers:

• Jonathan Rees, Director General of the Government Equalities Office: "Key Features of the 2010 Equality Act"
• Amanda Ariss, CEO of the Equality and Diversity Forum, "How NGOs might use the Equality Act in Their Work"
• Peter Reading, Acting Director of Legal Policy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, "EHRC's Role in Implementing the Act"

 
After lunch, I take part in two workshops. the first of these is "Equality Impact Assessments" (presented by Janine Garel, Citizens Advice), the second, "The Public Sector Equality Duty" (presented by Ali Harris, Citizens Advice and Ewan Kennedy, ROTA).

The venue for this event, Maple House on Corporation Street is very good. Central, close to Birmingham New Street rail station, with friendly staff and good food. But what I like most about it are the names of the meeting rooms. They're called "Accelerate!", "Forward!", "Hasten!", "Proceed!" and "Propel!". They sound like team names from The Apprentice. All they're missing is an exclamation mark at the end of each one - so I've added them here for good measure!