MANAGED MIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP
2.2 What are the equality implications of immigration entry policies? Since 2000 and the transposition of European Union Directives, a number of equality duties applicable to public authorities have been introduced. A duty in relation to race equality has existed since the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. However the Border & Immigration Agency (BIA) (now the UK Border Agency (UKBA)) was exempted from Section 71 (duty to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different racial groups) in carrying out its immigration and nationality functions but nevertheless is required to promote good relations between such persons. As we shall see, the Race Equality Duty has been invoked in relation to immigration legislation. There is also a disability equality duty based on the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which entered into force in 2006. A gender equality duty was introduced into the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 by Section 84 of the Equality Act 2006, and came into force on 6 April 2007. The latter imposes a general duty on public authorities in carrying out their functions to have due regard to the need: (a) to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, and (b) to promote equality of opportunity between men and women. It also requires consultation with stakeholders, taking into account any information it has gathered or considers relevant as to how its policies and practices affect gender equality in the workplace or delivery of services, and in formulating its overall gender objectives to address the causes of any gender pay gap. However, there has been little in-depth research conducted on the equality implications of immigration policies, especially in relation to the highly skilled (see CRE, 2007, and discussion of judicial review and extension in this chapter; Kofman et al, 2005, for gender). The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) had earlier expressed its concerns in relation to the Immigration and Asylum Bill in 2006 at the inadequacy of the Bill’s Race Equality Impact Assessment (REIA) 2 . Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) warrant further research based on both interviews with migrants and statistical analysis. UKBA and (previously) the BIA have undertaken several EIAs, on the Prevention of Illegal Working (May 2007), tier 1 of the PBS (February 2008), tier 2 (May 2008) and tier 5 (2008). The first concluded that there might only be implications for race equality and to a minor extent gender identity 3 . It commissioned research on employment and noted that some of the relevant employment tribunal judgements involved recent migrants. The second EIA largely referred to applications for the HSMP rather than to the extensions which have been the source of considerable controversy and legal challenges. Furthermore, UKBA refuses to take into account any discrimination that may be faced in the UK workplace by migrants and which would make it difficult for them to fulfil the criteria 2
CRE briefing to the House of Lords, third reading of the IAN Bill, 10 March 2006. See http://83.137.212.42/sitearchive/cre/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0bm.RefLocID-0hg00900f006.LangEN.htm 3 The only stakeholders consulted were those concerned with race equality.
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