Equality Bill [HL]

My Lords, I beg to move that the House agrees with the Commons in their Amendment No. 38. The amendment would limit the scope of an inquiry that the commission may undertake under Clause 16, which under the Bill as it left your Lordships’ House could relate to any of the commission’s duties under Clauses 8, 9 and 10. Under this amendment, the commission would not be able to consider in the course of an inquiry any human rights matters relating to the intelligence services. These are defined in paragraph 14 of Schedule 2 as the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Headquarters. We propose this amendment to ensure that the commission’s inquiries power does not jeopardise the important work of the intelligence services. This is a reflection of the broad scope of human rights considerations. Of course, there already exists a mechanism by which judicial reviews may be brought against the intelligence services before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which is properly equipped to handle matters and evidence that may be sensitive to national security. The convention rights under the Human Rights Act may be relied upon by claimants in such cases. This exclusion does not affect the ability of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to conduct inquiries into equality matters in pursuance of its duties under Clauses 8 and 10, so long as it expressly excludes human rights matters from consideration. This is a small but important change to ensure that the work of the intelligence services is not compromised. Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 38.—(Baroness Ashton of Upholland.)