Older people’s basic human rights are being overlooked in the provision of care at home, according to emerging findings released from our inquiry into home care. Major problems brought to our attention include inadequate time to deliver care, neglect and lack of staff training. Commissioner Baroness Greengross said: 'This is placing older people's human rights to privacy, autonomy and dignity at risk, sometimes in very serious ways.' The full report will be published in November 2011. The inquiry is part of the Commission’s wider programme of work on human rights and will contribute to the Commission’s upcoming Human Rights Review, a report that documents the state of human rights in England and Wales. Read more about the review.
Read more about the inquiry findings.
We have launched a report into how well schools in England and Wales are performing against the race, disability and gender equality duties, superseded on 5 April by the new Public Sector Equality Duty. This is the first report of its kind on schools and provides baseline intelligence about the difference the duties have made to pupils.
Read more about the schools report
We have launched the first of three phases of the consultation to develop our next three-year strategic plan. Phase one looks at our Strategic Plan 2009-12 and how successful we have been in delivering on our goals. To access and complete our consultation questionnaire, please visit our website.
Read more about the consultation
The Court of Protection ruled that Hillingdon Council breached the human rights of Steven Neary, an adult with autism and a severe learning disability, by keeping him in care for a year. The Commission intervened in the case. John Wadham, Group Director Legal, said: ‘Public bodies must pay better attention to the human rights of people in their care if they are to protect vulnerable adults and improve service standards’.
Read more about the ruling
Mark Hammond has been appointed as permanent Chief Executive of the Commission. Commission Chair Trevor Phillips commented: ‘Mark's appointment is a crucial step in the next phase of the Commission's life. He will be leading the work to create an efficient, effective and creative organisation which can deliver our vision’.
Read more about this appointment
The Commission has published its full response to the Government’s consultation on our powers and duties. This follows the initial, high level response published last month.
Read more about our response
A research report recently published by the Commission shows that people’s understanding of their rights around religion or belief is not always matched by recent changes to equality law. We are concerned that this could be preventing people from using their rights.
Read more about this research report
The Commission has launched a research report examining the impact of counter-terrorism legislation on Muslim communities.
Read more about the counter-terrorism research
ABTA and the Commission have launched the second module in the Accessible Travel Made Easy series. This free, interactive online training tool highlights good business practice.
Read more about the training tool
As a National Human Rights Institution the Commission’s role involves monitoring the UK’s progress against core UN treaty Conventions. We have developed a scorecard to enable us to do this effectively.
Read more about scorecard
On 10 June the Government submitted the seventh periodic report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW to the UN, detailing developments in the UK over the last four years. We will be engaging independently in the UN review process, advising the CEDAW Committee on key gender equality challenges in the UK, engaging with NGOs and commenting on the Government report. The UK examination by the UN CEDAW Committee is now scheduled for July 2013.
Read more about CEDAW
The Commission's annual reports and accounts for 2009/10 were published on 21 June 2011.
Read more about our Annual Report
The Commission has argued that the Government’s guidance, which sets out the approach that British intelligence officers should take in seeking information from people held by authorities overseas, is not consistent with either domestic or international law.
Read more about the torture guidance