asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will be fit to operate from 1 October, and in particular (a) how many of the staff in the existing Commissions for Disability Rights, Racial Equality and Equal Opportunities have accepted redundancy terms offered; (b) how many of the staff in the existing commissions will be assimilated into posts in the CEHR; (c) what assessment has been made by the Office of Government Commerce about the effectiveness and competence of the planned transitional arrangements to make the CEHR prepared for operation by 1 October; and (d) what advice and assistance the victims of alleged unlawful discrimination can expect to receive when they contact the CEHR from 1 October. [HL4381]

The Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will be operational from 1 October 2007 which represents the first phase of the transition programme fully to integrate and assimilate the legacy commissions into the CEHR by 1 April 2008.

One hundred and eighty-five staff from the existing commissions have applied for and accepted the terms of the voluntary exit scheme. These applications have been approved and it is planned that staff will leave by 30 September 2007. The breakdown is as follows: 79 from the Commission for Racial Equality; 70 from the Disability Rights Commission; and 36 from the Equal Opportunities Commission.

It is not possible to say how many staff will be assimilated until vesting day. However, all eligible staff will be considered for CEHR posts through the agreed assimilation process. Every effort will be made to avoid compulsory redundancies. Eligible staff includes those with fixed-term contracts that extend beyond 1 October 2007, and permanent staff, as well as staff on maternity leave, special leave, sickness absence and outward secondment.

The Office of Government Commerce has conducted two gateway reviews of CEHR. These have been gate 0 (zero) which can be applied at any stage in the transition process to guide the senior responsible officer (SRO) in relation to the effectiveness of the planned transition. The last report was on 30 May 2007 and made a number of recommendations. The CEHR has already taken action in response to some recommendations and has action in hand on others to ensure a successful launch on 1 October 2007.

From 1 October 2007 the CEHR will offer advice and assistance to individuals, in accordance with the Equality Act 2006, via a website and a daytime helpline supplemented by a team within its legal department which will deal with individual cases that meet agreed criteria (the CEHR board will agree these criteria before 1 October 2007). Those who do not meet CEHR criteria will be signposted to other organisations (e.g. citizens advice bureaux; the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service; trade unions) or referred to CEHR-funded organisations including race equality councils and law centres.