Equality Bill [HL]

I have no doubt that this should be done—the problem is when and how. When I tried to achieve this in my Private Member’s Bill, I learnt that one could not have a positive duty that is applied in exactly the same way to each strand for reasons of personal privacy. For example, if a duty were created on the public sector to find out as part of the positive duty what is the gender or ethnic composition of the workforce, that can be done without violating personal privacy—at least, I think that it can. However, if one asks the workforce about their sexuality or religion and tries to read it across in exactly the same way, it will not work. Therefore, when one comes to implement the amendment moved by the noble Baroness, Lady   Greengross, it will be necessary to be context sensitive, but I have no doubt that the object is what should happen. I hope that the Minister will be able to say that that is the Government’s objective as well.