Equality Bill [HL]

I am in the happy position of saying that I agree with the noble Baroness, and I agree with the noble Lord. I am grateful to the noble Baroness for raising the issue, as it is a delicate and important topic. We have said previously that we recognise the difficulty that the amendment is designed to cure. We were as surprised and, I am afraid to say, as dismayed as any when the courts took the narrow line that they did in cases such as the Leonard Cheshire case. The amendment is designed, I know, once more to extend the protection of the Human Rights Act to   more of those to whom the Government intended it to apply as the Bill passed through its parliamentary stages. It would, however, catch only a proportion of those who have lost those rights, and we are not convinced that such a piecemeal approach can be justified. I assure the noble Baroness that we are going to ask for the discrimination law review carefully to consider the definitions of public authority and public function as they appear throughout the existing equality and human rights legislation. The review’s terms of reference are couched in terms that will permit us to do that. I cannot guess at what the conclusions will be, but I assure the noble Baroness that the Government take the matter very seriously. The current situation is unsatisfactory and, as I have said, we are taking all reasonable steps to right it. In the light of what I have said, I hope that the noble Baroness will feel able to withdraw her amendment. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lester, for what seemed to me to be his implicit offer, which I hope will make the noble Baroness feel happy to withdraw her amendment.