Queen’s Speech

My Lords, I am sorry that I was unable to be here for the opening speech. I am afraid that my best laid plans were disrupted due to a change in a timetable, and I have conveyed my apologies to the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, through the Whips’ Office. I shall confine my comments to the question of equality because in the 21st century we need equality legislation that is for everyone and that helps to promote social cohesion and inclusion. The Government have indicated that they will introduce a Bill to promote equality, fight discrimination and introduce transparency to the workplace in order to redress the difference in pay between men and women. My hope is that the new legislation will enable us to move towards a world where equality is more than a collection of different strands and various groups, and that it will make a real difference to achieving equality and fairness. That demands legislation which is clear, comprehensive, effective, practical, easy to implement and, above all, user friendly. It demands legislation that encourages a proactive, non-adversarial approach and avoids unnecessary bureaucratic requirements, and which is designed to deal with some of the underlying fundamental issues and barriers, thus leading to a real step change. Any new legislation must be assessed against these criteria because, despite our longstanding anti-discrimination legislation, we have made little progress. This is mainly due to a lack of clear articulation about the legal and policy framework, an absence of accessible guidance and confusion about the law. We should take this opportunity to ensure that the legislation is not only clear and easy to implement, but is backed by effective support and guidance, as well as a strong policy framework. On the specifics, I will confine my comments to five areas: constitutional equality guarantee, public sector duty, procurement, equal pay and positive action. First, I urge the Government to include a constitutional equality guarantee in the Bill to confirm that everyone is equal before the law and that everyone has equal protection under and benefit from the law. The premise of robust and meaningful equality legislation is that all laws, proceedings and acts of public authorities must respect the right to equality, with safeguards to protect people against the violation of that right. Secondly, while I support the Government’s proposal to extend the public sector duty to cover age, sexual orientation and gender reassignment, I have strong reservations about extending it to religion. Discrimination on the grounds of religion is unlawful, and that is absolutely right, but extending the public duty to religion would be divisive and deviates from the objective of promoting cohesion and inclusion. I therefore urge caution. This issue has been debated in the House and the arguments about freedom of speech have been well rehearsed. Indeed, the noble Lord, Lord Lester, and the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, referred to them. Thirdly, public sector procurement offers a powerful means of leveraging equality in the private sector. All those wishing to provide services to public authorities should be able to demonstrate that they have taken the necessary steps to ensure equal treatment in employment and service delivery. I recognise that this is a complex area and that the current legal and policy framework is far from clear about how to take into account equality objectives in procurement decisions. Such a provision in law must therefore be backed by clear advice, guidance and an understanding of how equality can be essential to improving quality. Fourthly, we all know that despite legislation, the gender pay gap has persisted. The Government’s intention to bring equal pay within the scope of the legislation is welcome, but further work is needed on relevant comparators. It is also important that multiple discrimination is taken into account when determining appropriate comparators to use in equal pay cases. For example, if an employee is female and from an ethnic minority, it may be that the manifestation of discrimination is dissimilar from both a white female colleague and a black male colleague. The law should reflect the multifarious nature of discrimination. Furthermore, this is an area which is ripe for a more proactive approach, where positive action should be encouraged. Employers should be required to conduct pay audits, develop pay equity plans, and actively address the question of pay rather than rely on individuals to take action. Fifthly, the provisions to allow positive action are welcome, but these areas of the law can cause confusion and ambivalence if they are not absolutely clear about what is permissible and how the provisions should work in practice. It is important that the legislation provides a clear understanding of how these things will work in practice. In conclusion, I will say that a single equality law is long overdue, but we must ensure that we get it right in the light of very long experience. All the contributions to the debate have urged simplicity and practicality in this regard. We all know that the law alone is not sufficient; it provides the framework. It must be backed by an effective, independent and bold Equality and Human Rights Commission and a clear policy framework from the Government. We need to get all three components right. I look forward to the Minister’s response.