Parliament's Women and Equalities Committee has launched an Inquiry in response to concerns raised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and other organisations that the coronavirus crisis is having a disproportionate impact on some people who have protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. The Committee is asking how people have been affected by the illness or the response to it; if there have been specific impacts on people due to them having a protected characteristic; and whether there may be unforeseen consequences to measures brought in to ease the burden on frontline staff.
The Government will be reviewing current measures in three weeks’ time and measures in the Coronavirus Bill be voted on again in 6 months’ time, so the Inquiry wants to know what needs to change or improve, which could be acted on in three weeks’ time; and what could be acted on in 6 months’ time. The Committee aims to follow up this work in 12 months’ time to build a more complete picture of how people with protected characteristics have been affected.
Responses should be submitted by 30 April if possible, to enable the Committee to press the Government to reconsider the current measures at the three-week review.