Equality Bill

My Lords, in speaking to the amendment I return to the theme of equality representatives in the workplace which I raised in my Second Reading speech. I have cut this speech to a bare minimum in the interests of time. It has been repeatedly demonstrated in studies from a range of countries that worker activity, with union support behind it, is a major factor in increasing the opportunity for equality at work. Statistics show that better standards of equality of opportunity are achieved in unionised workplaces than in similar non-unionised ones. As a former equal opportunities commissioner, I obviously welcome this. I would say to the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, that I hope I was a progressive commissioner. Equality representatives are at the core of the amendment. There are hundreds of thousands of equality representatives appointed and supported by trade unions and their members in the United Kingdom. They are important people in industrial relations. It has been estimated that they save society between approximately £200 million and £600 million each year. This results from a reduction in lost time. It involves race, gender and disability equality issues, as well as age and sexual orientation matters. The amount of time equality representatives spend on their activities varies considerably. In a 2009 survey by the TUC, 88 per cent of equality representatives had spent time on providing information on equality issues to members, 77 per cent on promoting good equality practice and 61 per cent on assisting employees with investigations for discrimination and harassment complaints. Sixty per cent had been involved with flexible-working requests, 59 per cent with discriminatory practices and 41 per cent with requests for parental leave. That is just a flavour of what equality representatives do. This all sounds very good, so why this amendment? A recent TUC survey found that only 36 per cent of equality representatives had an employer who automatically consulted with them frequently, only 26 per cent actually negotiated with union representatives and 22 per cent of employers never involved their union reps. A failure to consult with the workforce, or even to respond to points raised, can have devastating consequences. On the other hand, equality representatives working with the employer can intervene very positively towards the well-being of employees. This amendment shows the kind of legislation which would be of great help to both sides of industry. The TUC, which I thank for this briefing, believes that equality representation should not be an add-on to the overall well-being of employees. Consultation with the workforce should be an automatic action for any good employer and any Government claiming to care for the well-being of the country’s workforce should provide legislation to assist it. I know that the Government are unlikely to accept this amendment and I have no intention of pushing it to a vote, but it is an important issue, especially to individual trade unions and their members and to the TUC, so I hope that a way forward can be found for a constructive debate on the question of legislation to support equality representatives. I beg to move.