Equality Bill [HL]

It is a hotel run not by a public authority. Her Majesty runs a certain type of hotel, at which many offenders enjoy a proper rest, but we are talking about hotels which are generally available to the public to go into and are run as private establishments. They are not included. But the noble Baroness raises an issue for this reason: we are together trying to encourage many different agencies—non-governmental agencies, charities, religious bodies—to engage in the provision of public services. That is an issue at which we will have to look. Faith groups delivering public functions may have to be looked at. We seek to encourage faith groups and all others—those of faith and those not of faith—to join in because we think they can make a valuable contribution to providing such services, and they have   of course, particularly the religious groups, historically played a major role in the area. There is, however, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, said, a line to be drawn here. When delivering public functions to the general public, we do not believe that it would be right for a faith group to discriminate or harass members of the public on the ground of their religion and belief. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady O’Cathain, agrees absolutely with us in that regard. We do not therefore believe that it is acceptable for prayer to be a prerequisite of receiving a public service or for members of the public to be preached to when receiving a public service. I anticipate that no one in this House would disagree with that either. It would be wrong if faith groups delivering public functions refused to provide services to people of a particular religion, or if they set conditions or requirements for   receiving such services that led to indirect discrimination against people of a particular religion or belief. I see the noble Baroness nodding her assent to that statement. Faith groups should not harass members of the public when undertaking public functions. We would not want them to do that. That does not mean, of course, that Bibles and other religious texts cannot be made available by faith groups when performing public functions, if—I emphasise ““if””—someone requests them, or that facilities cannot be provided for worship on a voluntary basis. These should not be part of the offering of the public service and no element of compulsion should be involved. I accept, however, that there is an issue about religious objects. I can see situations where pubic functions are carried out in church halls or other places associated with worship where objects on display in those premises, such as crucifixes, might conceivably lead to accusations of harassment. Similarly, there may be cases where a display on Diwalli in the local library or the use of religious objects as part of religious education might be considered harassment. That is absolutely not what we intend. I am willing to give a commitment that we will look at the issue further to see whether there is any way in which we can exempt the display of religious objects from the definition of harassment. Therefore, I invite the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment. I understand that it is a probing amendment. I think that she has raised an important point. We will look at this and see what can be done.