Race Relations Order Consultation Questionnaire

Overview

Background – Where we are now

The current Race Relations Order was brought into force in 1997 and subsequently amended in 2003 and 2009 by amendment regulations.

The Order outlaws discrimination on racial grounds. Racial grounds include colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins.

The law covers racial discrimination in the following key areas:

• Changes affecting multiple provisions
• Education
• Employment
• Provision of Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises
• ECNI
• Enforcement
• Others

We recognise that given the passage of time and advancements elsewhere, including through the Equality Act introduced in GB in 2010, there is a need to revise our own legislation to maximise the protections for those minority ethnic communities that have and will make this their home.

For this reason the Executive’s Racial Equality Strategy 2015-2025 prescribed that within the lifetime of the Strategy, work should be done to review and revamp our racial equality legislation to both bring it into line with the protection offered in other jurisdictions  and where possible to advance it further to help future proof it.

The approach to this has been to examine the differences between our legislation and that of equivalent legislation, or part thereof, in GB and Ireland. This analysis has facilitated engagement with various stakeholders and colleagues to give us an overview of areas and articles within the legislation which are in need of reform and essentially those areas which new legislation should seek to address.

We are cognisant that there will be potential for areas or gaps which may not have been considered and it is therefore important that we bring our proposals forward for  public consultation. 

This consultation will allow us to gather more information on any potential areas which we have overlooked or offer better insight to the issues at hand which may warrant further consideration to address.