The Single Equality Bill: A Missed Opportunity to Legislate on Genetic Discrimination?

Abstract

In this paper I consider the recent review of the discrimination law of England and Wales. The Discrimination Law Review published its final report, "Framework for a Fairer Future," in 2008. The report advocated a complete overhaul of the discrimination law in England and Wales, creating a single duty to promote equality. Although many of the consultees had argued that genetic discrimination should be included in the grounds of discrimination, the Discrimination Law Review team and the government have since decided to exclude it from the proposed Single Equality Bill. In this paper I analyse the reasons given for this decision, and argue that this was a missed opportunity to deal with a problem which will only get worse in the future.