A new body is to be established to tackle all forms of discrimination.

The Commission for Equality and Human Rights will be formed under the Equality Bill, and will replace the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission.

It will provide support for legislation to tackle discrimination on the grounds of age, religion, sexual orientation, race and disability, and to promote compliance with the Human Rights Act. 

And it will also act as the single point of contact for individuals, businesses and organisations to get information and guidance on these issues.

In addition, the CEHR will be charged with consulting all relevant stakeholders on the case for a Single Equality Act. 

Faith communities will enjoy new protections under the legislation, to ensure they are not treated unfairly in the provision of goods and services, while public sector bodies will be duty-bound to promote gender equality, ensuring that men and women are treated equally and fairly.

"Equality is not a minority concern - it matters to every one of us," said the Department of Trade and Industry.

"The government has shown its commitment to protecting people from discrimination and exploitation by protecting people at work from discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief or sexual orientation; raising the national minimum wage, which benefits an estimated 1.6 million low-paid workers; setting up the Women and Work Commission to find solutions to the problem of the gender pay gap."

Mixed reaction

Help the Aged is among the charities in favour of the proposal.

"Ageism is pernicious, and our society is riddled with it," said spokeswoman Tessa Harding.

"It is endemic in the workplace. It leaves older people who are able and willing to work without employment or income, condemning them to poverty in old age.

"The commission is the first and most positive step towards ridding ourselves of this miserable blight."

Others are more cautious of the plans, arguing that all-embracing equality powers must first be passed for the CEHR to be effective.

"The need for single equalities legislation is very important," said chairman of the Disability Rights Commission Bert Massie.

"Without it, it would be easier for the CEHR to fail than to succeed. From day one of the commission's life, there would be serious fault lines in its legal powers which could sow the seeds for future disharmony."

But Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, has expressed his opposition to the merger, warning that it was "the wrong proposal at the wrong time".

Commissioners voted to "unequivocally reject" the plan in July.