Equality Bill

My Lords, I speak to the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lady Royall. For brevity’s sake, I refer to that of the noble Lord, Lord Lester, and thank him for tabling his amendment, which mirrors the Government’s thinking on this sensitive issue. Nobody is happy to see someone who is barely more than a child becoming pregnant while still at school. We want to reduce the incidence of this happening; the Government’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy is focused on this. However, once a pupil has become pregnant, and, if she decides to go ahead and have the baby, the important thing for both her and her baby’s future prospect is that we try to ensure that she is able to complete her education. This is the best possible outcome for all concerned. Initially, our view was that other measures already in place were sufficient to tackle this without extending discrimination law into this area. However, we have considered this issue very carefully and listened to the concerns raised during the passage of the Bill. We now accept that the best interests of pregnant schoolgirls will be served by their being protected from discrimination in schools. I am therefore happy to table this amendment, which will remove the exemption in schools from Clause 17 of the Bill. I am also at this point happy to accept the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Lester, which will do the same in Clause 84. Through their Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, the Government will continue to try to ensure that school-age mothers receive the support and tuition they need to complete their education. This new protection in law should help to clarify the position for very young mothers and ease their way back into an educational setting. I beg to move.