Equality Bill

My Lords, it is more than 100 minutes since the noble Baroness, Lady Warsi, invited the Minister to explain what the clause is about, what it will lead to and how it will work, as opposed to what it is not about. We heard of the many things that it is not about. We also heard that it will not do much harm. If it will not do much harm, what good will it do? That is what we want to know—how it will work and how the public authorities will address the wonderful aspiration that no one would disagree with and that we all share. I will leave aside the consequences of non-enforcement, which are important. However, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, will be aware, it is more than 30 years since the phrase "race equality" appeared as an exhortation in Section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976. In many ways, that section is phrased like this clause. It took a long time to determine exactly what it meant. Today, in 2010, many local authorities make "appropriate arrangements" by saying, in effect, "We have considered this and our appropriate arrangements are to do little or nothing because that is what we consider to be appropriate". It is quite right that we should consider what this means for us. We all want a society in which we are working towards reducing and, if possible, eliminating inequalities, whatever they are. One cannot dismiss the fact that looking at outcomes is important. Many speakers today have said that this is a land full of opportunity. Regardless of whether it is full of opportunity or has considerable opportunity, and whether that is for all, no one can deny that opportunity is there. Many opportunities have been placed before many people, but there is still a huge and widening gap between those who have and those who have not—those who are rich and those who are not. That reflects the failure of government to deal with the issue of socio-economic disadvantage over the past 12 years. Now they have stuck this in the Bill without the explanations that we need of what it means, how it will work and how we will get the result. It is fine to talk about outcomes—I have no problem with that—but we cannot get to outcomes without opportunities. Here I am reflecting what other people have said: the two must go hand in hand. We can have the aspirations that we have and we can create more opportunities as we need to, but we must address outcomes as well and we must be able to measure those outcomes. The way that we get there is the process that we go through and that process is about the values in our society, the principles and the people who make the daily decisions and how they do that. My experience of being involved in organisations where decisions are made every day that impact on people’s lives is that when people do not apply the principles and values that are linked to the aspirations, decisions are made when the opportunities are there but the outcomes remain the same. That is why it is important that we hear from the Minister about what the clause means and how it will work. That will determine where I stand in supporting either the clause or the amendment. I acknowledge, accept and support exhortation built on aspiration—it is something that I want to see in the Bill. However, it is purposeless without a clear explanation of what it means and how it will work and make a difference. If it will do no harm and make no difference, it is not worthy of inclusion and is, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, says, something written in water.