Letter: Equality makes sense

Sir: Equality of opportunity (EO) should not be about ethics or legislation. And as Barrie Clement suggests ('How to make opportunity knock', 29 April), underpinning the valid business rationale for EO with statistical threats (for example, the demographic time bomb) simply turns equality of opportunity into an issue of crisis management or contingency planning. When the threats fail to materialise and, for example, recession bites, EO slips down the corporate agenda.

Equality of opportunity is about doing the best for business in good times and in bad. That means, quite simply, drawing on all the available talent in the community, regardless of sex or ethnic origin. It means discriminating only on an individual's ability to do the job.

Yours faithfully

RICHARD GRIMES

Head of Corporate Affairs

Rank Xerox

Uxbridge, Middlesex

30 April