Equality Bill [HL]

Perhaps I may deal with the final issue raised by the noble Earl. He knows that my noble friend Lady Ashton said that she would look into the matter. I reiterate that promise. I tried to make it clear that the provision of service should not be dependent on an individual complying. For instance, it would be wholly improper to say, ““Unless you pray or do the following, you will not be fed or get a bed””. That is what I was talking about. I see several noble Lords nodding their agreement that we should not agree to that; that is not proper. There is another issue of things being available for those who want to participate. We need to consider that. On the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady   Carnegy, I have said that we will take the matter away to consider, but some local authorities have behaved very practically to meet the needs of their disparate communities. For example, if there is a cross at the crematorium and a Muslim family has come to cremate a loved one, the cross is sometimes taken down or covered for that ceremony and put back up when the family has gone. So there are practical, sensitive things that one can do to encourage and enable people to take advantage of public services in a way that offends no one.