Equality Bill

My Lords, I have not previously intervened in the passage of the Bill but I have come across issues that I feel must be addressed at this time. I realise that a number of similar issues were considered when your Lordships’ Committee was discussing the provision of goods and services under Part 3 of the Bill. We now come to Part 7 and the question of associations. I have tabled the amendment at this stage because the Bill has seen fit to introduce a category in Part 7 which would mean that membership of an association cannot be regarded as quite the same thing as the supply of goods and services. My concern focuses on sports clubs, especially golf clubs. I declare an interest as the owner and managing director of a golf club. It was in that capacity that the concerns of the Scottish Golf Union, the governing body of the sport in Scotland, were raised with me. My amendment addresses those concerns. The exceptions provided in the Bill to the offence of discrimination, as they were discussed on the second day in Committee, focus on allowing businesses to provide distinctly different services to specified groups of people. My concern is to determine from the Minister whether the fact that in clubs, particularly in golf clubs, the same goods or services are offered to all but at a different price may entitle some members to feel that they are suffering discrimination and to call for a remedy under the Bill. A particular focus is placed on the definition of the protective category of age. In golf clubs, there can be at least four distinct groups: the juniors, who are under 18, pay little in terms of subscription and are exempted under the scope of the Bill; those in tertiary education or who are just starting their careers—people aged between 18 and about 30—are estimated to have financial constraints, and so clubs can offer them up to a 70 per cent reduction in their subscription; those between the ages of 28 and 65 are in the group to which the full subscription applies; and those who have long membership—a similar point was made by my noble friend Lord Elton—and are over the age of 65 gain huge reductions, often of 50 per cent or more. The unusual thing about those in the latter group in a golf club is not that they will benefit less than others but that nowadays they obtain far more use of the course and its facilities because they have time. It would be easy for those in the middle group to feel that they are being discriminated against because there is such a big concession to those in the older group and they have less chance to benefit. This is an accepted part of golf club culture and my amendment would leave it clearly in the hands of the clubs to take whatever measures on pricing they prefer. Can the Minister clarify whether the powers in the Bill as it stands will allow this situation to continue freely, or will the implementation of the Bill constitute some kind of regulation of these differentials? The situation would have been clearer if the Government had felt able to accept Amendment 57ZA to Clause 29, moved by my noble friend Lady Warsi on the second day in Committee, which sought to allow that a differential in the provision of services was permitted if, ""the difference was because of a material factor which is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim"." The Government felt that this was unnecessary and so my amendment seeks to clarify the situation. For golf clubs, this still leaves the issue contained in the other half of my noble friend’s amendment—the ability to allow some differentiation for the characteristic of sex. In sports involving strength as well as skill, such as athletics and tennis—lo and behold, the Olympics will be here in another year and a half—there is not only the question of having separate changing rooms but it is felt proper to have designated times or separate competitions for women and men. It must be clear that there is no provision in the Bill for some brave young blade to insist that he is going to compete in the ladies’ section, or that equality means that no separate provision can be made for a ladies’ day at a golf club. The pace of progress around a golf course is different on a ladies’ day than it is on any occasion reserved for gentlemen and, given the chance, this provides a benefit for each in turn. Members would regard it as detrimental if the provisions of the Bill were to interfere in these arrangements. I beg to move.