Call for Evidence

Accessible formats of the call for evidence:

• Easy read 
• British Sign Language

The Inquiry: 

The Committee has been concerned to hear that people with protected characteristics are disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and the Government’s response, including the emergency Coronavirus Bill.  We are particularly interested to hear about what impact these measures have had, and will continue to have, and whether the Government’s aim to support workers and people more widely have considered all relevant equality impacts.  The Committee is calling for written submissions about:

Your experiences. We want to know:

1. How people have been affected by the illness or the response to it
2. If there have been specific impacts on people due to them having a protected characteristic
3. Whether there may be unforeseen consequences to measures brought in to ease the burden on frontline staff, for example relaxing the measures under the Mental Health Act and Care Act)

Reviewing the measures

The Government has said current measures will be reviewed in three weeks’ time, and measures in the Coronavirus Bill be voted on again in 6 months’ time.

1. What needs to change or improve, which could be acted on in three weeks’ time;
2. What needs to change or improve, which could be acted on in 6 months’ time.

You can comment from a personal, organisational or expert opinion, or a mixture.

We would like to hear from you by 30 April 2020. If you cannot get it to us before then, please don’t worry, as it will still be useful to us if you submit it later. The sooner you can get it to us, the more likely the Committee can use it to press the Government to reconsider the current measures at the three-week review

We know that some impacts will be immediate, and others will be felt further in the future. We will look to follow-up this work in 12 months’ time to build a more complete picture of how people with protected characteristics have been affected.  

 

Your submission

If your submission is accepted by the Committee, it will usually be published online. It will then be available permanently for anyone to view. It can’t be changed or removed.

If you have included your name or any personal information in your submission, that will be published too. Please consider how much personal information you want or need to share. Your contact details will never be published.

Decisions about publishing evidence anonymously, or about accepting but not publishing evidence, are made by the Committee. If you want to ask the Committee to keep your evidence anonymous (we’ll publish your evidence but not your name or personal details) or confidential (the Committee will read your evidence but it won’t be published) then please tick the box on the form. This lets the Committee know what you would like but the final decision will be taken by the Committee.

We can’t publish submissions that mention ongoing legal cases – contact us if you are not sure what this means for you.

Please feel welcome to discuss any questions with the Committee staff on womeqcom@parliament.uk; 020 7219 6123

 

Signposting

We understand that the issues raised in this inquiry may be potentially distressing or sensitive.

Committees of the House of Commons are not able to take up individual cases but if you would like political support or advice you may wish to contact your local Member of Parliament.

If you would like support or advice you may wish to contact a support service through their website or helpline such as:

Samaritans- 116 123

Equality Advisory & Support Service 0808 800 0082

Citizens Advice 03444 111 444

Money Advice Service 0800 138 7777

Age UK- 0800 678 1602

Disability Rights UK

Maternity Action

Mind  - 0300 123 3393

Scope - 0808 800 3333

Switchboard, the LGBT+ helpline - 0300 330 0630

You may also find the following list of additional resources and helplines useful: Fawcett Society resources page