ABSTRACT
Thirty years after the Race Relations Act 1976, a revised piece of legislation, namely the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 (see Chapter 2), set out to tackle the problem of institutional racism. This came about because the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (Home Department, 1999), which found institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police, argued that institutional racism probably infected the majority of Britain's institutions. The government responded by devising a tool to help these bodies identify this type of racism and root it out. Whilst the legislative agenda to tackle racism has been progressive (see Chapter 2), it might be argued that there is a backlash sometimes, particularly amongst the very public sector bodies that are charged with the responsibility to eradicate the institutional racism inherent within their organisations. If used properly, the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 should lead to an almost conditioned response, so that any time any person or any authority thinks about policy or action, they also think `what does it mean for race equality?' Further, they will automatically know that to ®nd out they must `Assess', `Consult' and `Monitor' and, when they know, they must `Publish' and `Inform' ± these being key requirements contained within the Statutory Order 2001.
