Equality Bill [HL]

I give the noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, the reassurance that he seeks, but I say to my noble friend how important the play issues that he raises are. I strongly believe that access to play facilities and services should be provided to all children without discrimination on grounds of their religion or belief. Play can be an opportunity for children to develop their relationships with other children of any belief, race or colour. We should strive to enable children to benefit from that opportunity. I understand why my noble friend wished to raise the issue so strongly. I assure my noble friend that the list in Clause 48(2) corresponds to that in Section 20 of the Race Relations Act 1976. It was included for no reason other than to provide consistency with that Act. That is because the Race Relations Act already provides protection to Jews and Sikhs, and addressing that anomaly is one of the major reasons behind Part 2 of the Bill. We would not want the list in Clause 48 to be seen as anything other than illustrative. Accepting the amendment might suggest that it carried more weight than it does and that, for some reason, it was important that particular facilities or services were mentioned in the list. It might suggest that absence from the list meant that a particular type of service was not covered or was less significant. That is not the case, and we do not wish to give that impression. I am confident that that would not be the desired effect of my noble friend’s amendment. We agree with my noble friend that play is an important area. It is already covered by Clause 48, and, because of that, the amendment is not necessary. However, I thank my noble friend for giving me the opportunity to say, without any fear of contradiction, that it is included and is very important.