What amendments did the Race Relations (Amendment) Act make to the Race Relations Act?
The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 strengthened (it did not replace) the Race Relations Act. It met recommendation 11 of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report (that the full force of race relations legislation should apply to the police) and went further. Among other things, the RR(A)A outlawed discrimination (direct and indirect) and victimisation in all public authority functions not covered by the RRA, with only limited exceptions. It also placed a general duty on specified public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups in carrying out their functions. The RR(A)A empowered the Home Secretary (or the Scottish Ministers where appropriate) to impose specific duties on some or all public authorities which are subject to the general duty to promote race equality to help them better to perform the general duty and to extend the list of bodies subj
