Stick to your remit, MPs tell human rights watchdog

Published on Wednesday 1 July 2009 00:30

MPs warned a human rights watchdog yesterday to stick to its brief and keep out of a debate on further devolution.

The watchdog was also warned against getting into a debate on immigration.

The warning came in a report by the Commons Scottish affairs committee on the work in Scotland of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

Scotland has two official human rights watchdogs: the EHRC, a UK-wide body which promotes fairness in matters such as race relations and sex or religious discrimination; and the Scottish Commission for Human Rights, set up by Holyrood, which concentrates on devolved issues.

Yesterday's report voiced concern that the EHRC might have tried to influence policy outside its remit.

The MPs said the EHRC justified taking part in discussion about immigration in Scotland by saying that debate was needed on whether there would be enough young people to support the economy.

The report said: "Although the cost of the research underpinning this work is modest – about 4,000 – we are concerned that the Scotland committee of the commission is seeking to influence immigration policy on the basis of economic analysis and workforce needs assessment, which are outside its remit."

The MPs also challenged the commission on why it was getting involved in producing a discussion paper on options for equality in Scotland under greater devolution or full independence.

The commission defended this, saying it was important it became involved in such debates and that it was not advocating further devolution of equality matters.