Equal Opportunities Commission
Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department
Dr Oonagh McDonald (Thurrock)
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he next plans to meet the chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Mr Merlyn Rees (Leeds South)
I have no immediate plans to do so. I met Lady Lockwood to discuss EOC matters last month.
Dr Oonagh McDonald (Thurrock)
Will my right hon. Friend arrange to meet the chairman to discuss with her plans to ensure that the Government refuse contracts to employers who fail to comply with the Sex Discrimination Act, as has already happened with the Race Relations Act, thus showing that the Government take sex discrimination as seriously as they take racial discrimination?
Mr Michael McNair-Wilson (Newbury)
When the Home Secretary meets the chairman of the EOC, will he ask her to write to those chief constables who operate differential height requirements governing the entry of men and women into the police force in order to ensure a common standard?
Mr Merlyn Rees (Leeds South)
The subject of height standards for the police is a matter for each chief constable. I am not sure that I want to add to my powers in this respect. I imagine it is considered that in handling some of the work carried out by the police, the size of a woman is not as important as the size of a man.