Responding to Theresa May's announcement of a new body to tackle social injustices, our Chair David Isaac said:
Our position has long been very clear that to tackle inequality in society we need to urgently address gaps in knowledge and data. It is welcome that the government have recognised this and shown their commitment to reduce inequality. Better data collection will shine a spotlight on issues where action is needed.
It is important that any new body has a clear remit to avoid duplication so that attention and valuable resources are focused effectively. A full public consultation should take place to gather input from leaders in this area so their views can be considered. We look forward to taking part in further discussions on the direction of the Office for Tackling Injustices to understand how this will work in practice.
While collecting data is important, it will only take us so far. We need to see a coordinated response from government on the actions needed to reduce inequality in society. This could include implementing the socio-economic duty in the Equality Act and a more effective Public Sector Equality Duty that focuses public bodies on tackling the key inequalities identified in our reports on Is Britain Fairer?. This would go a long way to end the burning injustices the Prime Minister wishes to address.
