HIV Rights Threatened
posted: 27/07/2009
Crisis at the top of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has followed the controversial reappointment of Trevor Phillips as its chair for another three years. The commission took over from the Disability Rights Commission (and the other commissions for race and gender) and so is now the body responsible for promoting the rights of people living with HIV. The crisis at the top threatens the work of the commission on behalf of everyone living with HIV.
Queue of quitting commissioners, staff and tales of sleaze
- Six of the 16 commissioners (the board of directors) have quit so far and another is expected to go. Three of these were the disability commissioners.
- The chief executive and director of communications have both resigned.
- The National Audit Office earlier this month refused to approve the commission's accounts, as over £1m was misspent on making 7 senior staff redundant from the former Commission for Racial Equality he led, who were then immediately reappointed as expensive consultants.
- Phillips owns a majority stake in an equalities consultancy, and this risks conflicts of interest because he's in charge of UK equalities advice and regulation.
- A £300,000 contract for media work was awarded without following EU procedures to a company run by a close friend.
He's paid £110,000 a year for three and a half days a week of work. He's known by some as 'Teflon' Phillips, and denies he's done anything wrong. He's hidden himself away on holiday and refuses to answer his critics, while his commissioners and key staff abandon ship.
Equalities minister Harriet Harman surprisingly reappointed him last week despite the financial sleaze around him and complaints about his bullying, autocratic leadership style, and in the face of the strong advice against reappointment from her own minister Maria Eagle, and widespread rumblings and warnings. Apparently he makes sure you know he has friends in high places, including Peter Mandelson, and perhaps that explains Harriet Harman's surprising decision to reappoint him.
Troubled birth of bionic 'rights' body
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is a very strange bureaucratic beast - the cobbling together of the three respected and effective commissions for race, disability and gender, with sexuality, age and religious rights bolted on, and then Human Rights added for good measure. There are now plans to add class to this long list.
The contradictions are plain - hardline Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious beliefs come into conflict with equal treatment for gay people wanting to adopt children, for example. The commission was set up in a rush and against the advice of many experts who warned that it has too many things to look after and some would be neglected, particularly disability and its new responsibilities, such as for sexuality.
Phillips has even managed to alienate ethnic minorities - Chinese and S Asian people particularly - and by his claim that 'multiculturalism is dead' and that Britain is 'sleepwalking to segregation'. People distrust this spin on inequalities that panders to some white people's fears and anxieties. He's criticised because the commission is supposed to be the champion for equalities and rights and shouldn't pretend things are fine when there is so much still to be done to make Britain fairer for all. He's also alarmed women by saying better maternity rights need to be balanced against job prospects.
Vacuum at top
The loss of so many national expert commissioners and of senior staff, including the three disability commissioners (Sir Bert Massie, Baroness Jane Campbell, and Alun Davies - who chaired the
disability committee) raises serious doubts about whether the commission can now function well enough for people with HIV and other people with disabilities.
The Disability Rights Commission did a good job generally for people living with HIV - it supported legal protection being extended to cover everyone diagnosed with HIV, was responsive, and it supported individuals with HIV complaints. There has been little apparent HIV progress since the new commission took over and its new three year plan is silent about HIV. The new website doesn't provide anything like the amount and quality of information and advice that the Disability Rights Commission published. That makes our job of supporting people living with HIV who are facing stigma and discrimination more difficult.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is a key body the HIV sector has to work with to secure better treatment for people living with HIV. Our task is now more difficult because of the disarray at the top of the commission and the allegations of sleaze around Trevor Phillips.
It needs to sort itself out but with so many key people now gone including the leading disability specialists, we are not hopeful of any rapid improvement. It has a £70 million budget and the conservatives are proposing a bonfire of quangos if they win the general election next Spring. There is not much time to resolve the crisis of leadership.
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