Equality Bill

Before the noble Lord, Lord Warner, replies, may I add a point that has not yet been made and which I think needs to be made? Under the European Convention on Human Rights and under the Human Rights Act, the United Kingdom has a policy of obligation to ensure that public authorities and bodies that are private but performing functions of a public nature, do not discriminate on the basis of a person’s sexuality, among other things. That is an obligation which, to take the example of the noble Lord, Lord Warner, reaches beyond a public authority in the strictly formal sense to a body which is private in form but is exercising functions of a public nature which involves discrimination. The right reverend Prelate talks about a religious body which finds itself performing functions of a public nature and receiving state funding for doing so. I do not think it is a question of finding itself doing so—it chooses to do so. Instead of deciding not to have public funding and not to perform the service, it chooses to do so. Once it does, the United Kingdom has an obligation to ensure, on the basis of the case law I have seen, that it does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, except in very narrow circumstances, such as necessity, proportionality and so on. That is why it is important to clarify the issues we are talking about to ensure that, when one contracts out functions that would normally be performed by the state to bodies that are "private", the reach of human rights law extends to them. If they decide not to accept public funds and not to perform a public service, that is their entitlement. One could say, however, that otherwise they might be having their cake and eating it and the poor old UK Government would ultimately be responsible for that, either under the Human Rights Act or under the convention.