'Kinds of people' and equality monitoring in the UK

Over the last few decades social identities have grown in importance,'sexual orientation' and'national identity'being the latest to join the fold.While all jostle for official recognition, which of these identity groups is monitored - and in what settings - is of practical importance. Respondent burden, concerns about confidentiality and disclosure, and the lack in some cases of benchmark data raise issues around the feasibility of monitoring multiple'equality strands'.As most organisations have limited capacity to undertake such analysis, a broader repertoire of approaches needs to be considered if this process is to be more than a meaningless bureaucratic exercise. © The Policy Press, 2008.