Equality Bill

My Lords, it will not surprise the noble and learned Lord that I will speak against his proposed new clause. It would mean that any service provider could refuse to provide goods or services if doing so would make them complicit in an action to which they have a conscientious objection. It is our view that no one offering goods or services to the public on a commercial basis should be able to discriminate on any grounds. However, neither the current law nor the Bill requires service providers to provide a service that they would not normally provide. In the noble and learned Lord’s bed and breakfast example, as long as the bed and breakfast applies the same rule to unmarried couples and couples not in civil partnerships, that would not be discrimination; making a couple in a civil partnership stay in separate rooms while allowing a married couple to share rooms would be discrimination. The bed and breakfast in question is okay as long as it treats homosexuals and heterosexual people in the same way. They can make everybody sleep in separate rooms but it would probably not be good for business. We are talking here about everyday activities—such as shopping, going to the bank, eating in a restaurant, seeking assistance from the police, applying for planning permission or visiting a health clinic—which could for some people be made extremely difficult and unpleasant by discrimination. People are entitled to expect fair and unbiased treatment from commercial and publicly funded organisations, regardless of their protected characteristics. This Bill is designed to ensure they receive that. For example, both local authority and privately run care homes offer a great deal of comfort to people in their later years. This is a privilege that should be available to everyone, not dependent on characteristics such as sexual orientation. People of all sexual orientations have the right to good quality care throughout their later years of life. To achieve this, we understand that people working in both the public and private sectors may occasionally be required to undertake duties that they may not always agree with privately. However, as an employer, a service provider can when reasonably able take practical measures to respect the private views of staff. For example, if an individual registrar does not want to conduct civil partnership ceremonies because of their religious beliefs, a local authority could arrange for a different registrar to conduct the ceremony if there is one available. However, if—