Equality South West slams Pickles' plans for local government

Equality South West has condemned a government move to allow local authorities to publish official documents only in English.

ESW says the move – published in a money-saving guide by communities and local government minister Eric Pickles – will marginalise the thousands of migrants living and working in the region who do not have English as their first language.

ESW's Brenda Weston said: "The South West is home to thousands of families from outside the UK, many of whom do not speak English as a first language, but work here and pay their taxes here.

"To suggest local councils should deny people access to information about the service that they help pay for is wholly unreasonable and unacceptable. Councils just can't just say 'No, we're not going to tell you what you need to know' or 'Come back to me when you've learnt to speak English'."

Pickles also wants councils to ignore their legal duty to assess policies to ensure they are not discriminatory and to stop collecting data about constituents which identifies whether services are benefiting different groups in their communities fairly.

Brenda Weston said: "These two measures are invaluable in helping councils develop effective policies for everyone. How do councillors and officers know what services are required and by whom if they don't know who lives in their patch?

"The government used to boast that equality is at the heart of everything they do, but this further attack on equalities shows that this is empty rhetoric and they couldn't care less.