Equality Bill

My Lords, in his evidence session to the Speaker’s Conference, my right honourable friend David Cameron accepted the principle of reporting candidate data and explained that our determination to make progress on the diversity of our candidates means that we monitor closely their gender, ethnicity and any declared disability. However, my right honourable friend made it explicit that we do not ask our candidates about their sexual orientation. When I was vice-chair of the Conservative Party with special responsibility for candidates, I had a number of highly emotional discussions with candidates on whether they should disclose their sexual orientation. Often, their own families did not know, which caused real anguish. I know that the new clause makes it clear that no individual is required to provide information and that the data will be anonymised. That is fine for large categories such as gender and ethnicity, but the more one goes down the list of required data, one sees the numbers becoming smaller. Our fear, particularly with gender reassignment and sexual orientation, is that some candidates may not wish to disclose it, leaving a small number of candidates who are happy to answer. I can well imagine the media and certain other people then going out to find who those candidates may be. Something that is designed to help might have a negative outcome. I understand that many companies collect these data. However, that is for internal use, whereas these data will be in the public domain. We are also concerned about asking such direct and sensitive questions. My right honourable friend Theresa May had a useful meeting this week with Ben Summerskill at Stonewall, who said that considerable work has been done to ensure that questions are asked sensitively. I would welcome assurance from the Minister that the regulations will respect these personal issues, call for sensitivity and, above all, preserve privacy. I have two questions. Why was it decided to make only marriage and civil partnerships and pregnancy and maternity protected characteristics? Will new subsection (5)(a) apply to candidates for parliamentary elections in Northern Ireland? While we agree in principle with the amendments, we think that the collection of data is useless unless there is a culture and ethos to promote diversity. My own party has been innovative and determined in this area. Whatever the outcome of the next general election, we hope that our efforts will be there for all to see.