Equality Bill

My Lords, I did raise this issue at Second Reading as chair of the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV, and I was particularly concerned about the question for people who suffer with HIV. My noble friend said that the National AIDS Trust would be putting out a report very quickly; I have received e-mails from it in the last two days telling me how wonderful the Government are. It is absolutely delighted with the change, and says that it really appreciates what the Government have done to address the concerns that it and mental health organisations have raised, following the original Clause 60 that was carried in the House. I have to say that I read it and, until I got a proper briefing, I was not sure exactly what the Government had done, because it is very complex. Nevertheless, it appears that there is a need to genuinely congratulate the Government on the new amendments which will ensure that the new Clause 60 prohibits the use of pre-employment health questionnaires. Obviously, this is a significant improvement on the original wording. There is no doubt that prohibiting these questionnaires will have an enormous impact. For those with disabilities, particularly stigmatised conditions such as HIV, the very presence of pre-employment health questionnaires can be enough to deter someone from carrying on with an application. Therefore, the Government’s amendments today are an extremely welcome step forward which I genuinely believe will remove one of the barriers to disabled people entering the workplace.