Report from NEC Equalities Committee

Ann Henderson, NEC CLP representative, September 2022

The NEC Equalities Committee met on Thursday 8^th September 2pm – 3.45pm. With a number of apologies, and a light agenda, the meeting was poorly attended and not as focused as the wider Party membership might reasonably expect an Equalities Committee to be, given the recent publication of the Forde report.

In the absence of James Asser (Chair) who was unwell, the meeting was chaired by Ann Black, one of the NEC Vice Chairs for Women. Anneliese Dodds MP, as Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, and as Party Chair, gave a report on Shadow Cabinet campaigning and parliamentary activity, and was in attendance for the whole meeting. Ongoing work referenced here included: cost of living increases, highlighting impact on women including lone parents; working with Vicky Foxcroft on disability policies, including campaign for pay gap reporting; new deal for workers, including commitment on statutory rights for equality reps; working with the health team on maternal healthcare, particularly black women’s experiences; and commending the work done by Taiwo Owatemi MP as Deputy in the Women and Equalities team. Taiwo stood down from this role, and from a Whip’s role, this week, in order to manage her constituency commitments. The National Women’s Committee (NWC) that morning had placed on record their thanks for Taiwo’s work to date. Anneliese and the front bench have noted that the Cabinet team under Liz Truss no longer includes any Cabinet or Ministerial role with a remit specifically for women.

Anneliese reported that work continues on Labour’s proposal for a new Race Equality Act, and that she had been working with LGBT+ Labour, praising them for their work on London Pride 50 years, noting that Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and herself joined the demonstration in July.

Following on from concerns raised at the Women’s Committee, I asked Anneliese to reiterate that she would be working with the Governance and Legal Unit to ensure that local CLP role holders and Regional Offices were giving the right support to new Women’s Branches and officers. I also made clear that the NWC had been unanimous in voicing its frustration at the lack of progress on the Annual Women’s Conference 2023, on which no information has been forthcoming for months now.

Concerns have already been raised forcefully at the NEC by the left CLP reps about the General Secretary’s decision to cancel CLP AGMs in London region and elsewhere in England. This is a misguided response to the expected Boundary Commission Review changes and will impact on the Women’s Branches and other equalities work too. Anneliese agreed to look further into this.

At the last NEC Equalities Meeting, Anneliese had reported on a thorough piece of work to improve our equality monitoring and to get consistency in the data, in line with the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010. Progress is being made across the EDI Board internally with staff, and now all new initiatives (such as the Trainee organiser programme) will reflect a more systematic approach, using the ONS categories as the basis for data collection.

On the Forde Report, Party staff indicated that work is underway to see which recommendations have been addressed already and which need other work to be done, taking into account the ongoing EHRC commitments too. No real detail has been shared with the Equalities Committee or the Women’s Committee so far, and the full NEC on 20^th September may expect a more detailed report.

It was noted that the General Secretary had issued an apology to the PLP, along with Anneliese, as had Keir Starmer.  (Although nothing was shared in the papers for the meeting, on 27 July Labour List had carried an extract from the letter sent by the General Secretary and Party Chair  https://labourlist.org/2022/07/exclusive-do-not-dismiss-concerns-of-bame-members-over-forde-mp-urges/  )

Although there was also a separate agenda item on the ‘Party’s Response Plan’ on Forde, there was no other discussion in the meeting. The Equalities Committee was not being asked for its views on any of the substance of the Report and its recommendations, really only being advised that a progress report was going to the NEC later this month.

The same paper had been tabled at the National Women’s Committee that morning, and although discussion was not encouraged there either on the substance of the Forde report, the Women’s Committee members did flag up the need for a discussion with women in the Party about concerns over rising misogyny and complaints of sexism. The Committee will be represented at a women’s stakeholders roundtable next week, convened by Anneliese in conjunction with the External Stakeholders Manager from the Leader’s Office. NEC members were also asked to report to the full NEC, that the NWC wanted a special meeting on the Forde Report to be scheduled.

It is also evident from the recent visible protests from Black members of the PLP and the Party more generally, that statements such as those given by Head Office when Forde Report was published suggesting ‘that good progress is being made under the current leadership’ are not acceptable. Members want much more action and evidence of change.

Stakeholders present at the NEC Equalities Committee this month were: Jewish Labour Movement (Mike Katz), Labour Women’s Network (Claire Reynolds) and Disability Labour (Kathy Bolt). Verbal reports were taken from all three.  For the future, it was agreed (not for the first time) that written reports should be submitted in advance, to allow for NEC members to prepare for the discussions with stakeholders more effectively and make better use of the Committee time.

Disability Labour reported on growing frustration within the Party from disabled members, as repeated failures are recorded in meeting members’ requests for reasonable adjustments, and in moving to a more flexible approach on arranging hybrid meetings.  Kathy Bolt also indicated that individual member complaints were increasing, referencing again the difficulties at the 2021 Annual Conference, and the flaws in the new Complaints procedures. Ann Black as Chair of the meeting stressed it was important these were all addressed, and the Governance and Legal Unit asked for specific cases to be passed on. The Disability Labour Statement is here:

https://mailchi.mp/19fcf8617c64/summer22-update-16583223

Mike Katz from the Jewish Labour movement reported on a busy summer of training activity, highlighting successful sessions provided at the GMB Annual Conference in Harrogate, and encouraging other trade unions to take up the JLM offer of antisemitism training, to which Wendy Nichols responded enthusiastically in relation to discussing with JLM rolling out training through Unison regions. JLM is working with Party staff to train trainers, to build capacity in the Party. JLM has also been providing training to regional office staff.  It was noted that the GMB has established a Faith Workers Branch, in which JLM is glad to be involved.

The other summer activity has been around selection and trigger ballots, and Mike Katz urged the Party to improve the communications around timetables and crucial dates, in order to allow socialist societies and affiliates to be able to maximise member participation. Wendy Nichols as Chair of NEC Organisation Committee, agreed to take this back.

JLM indicated they had already been involved in discussions following the Forde Report publication, but nothing further was raised during the meeting.

For Labour Women’s Network, Claire Reynolds reported on training – the recently completed delivery of a women’s leadership programme in Eastern Region; Jo Cox programme for cohort five is underway; forthcoming training in the North West Region, and a major fundraising dinner in Sheffield on 26 November. Two fringe events are planned for Annual Conference, a stall, and the LWN reception is now running as a joint reception with the Party. Claire is also now on the Board of Make Women Count. LWN will be relaunching their campaign on abortion rights at Annual Conference.

Following on from all three reports, I asked for more clarity and an NEC review of all training programmes for which the Party was committing funding, or allocating staff time, and the costs and overall budget. There has not been transparency over contracts in the past, and I recall this being an issue with the first Bernie Grant programme.  There are other examples, such as the apparent monopoly on antisemitism training, or the lack of involvement of the National Women’s Committee in any of the current women’s development and training schemes. Members should know how their money is being spent – and if the programmes best meet the needs of the Party. This is another question to consider when reviewing the Forde recommendations.

Claire from LWN explained that LWN fills a gap that nobody else does, and that the funding for the Jo Cox programme is conditional on LWN delivering it.

The NEC will hopefully pick up on the wider discussion when reviewing budgets and training priorities in the year ahead.

The final item on the agenda at the NEC Equalities Committee was a report on Equalities conferences for 2023. The meeting was informed there was nothing to report, as discussions were ongoing in the staff teams and a report would go to the full NEC on 20^th September.

The recommendations from the Democracy Review of 2018, translated into rules by successive Annual Conferences, are fast receding into the distance despite the rulebook –just when tackling sexism, misogyny, racism, ableism, and all discrimination, should be at the heart of our work.

Ann Henderson 09.09.22