Equality Bill

My Lords, the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York contrasted subsection (2), which is a "must do" requirement to publish, with subsection (11), which is "cannot do" provision that states that a political party cannot require a person to give it the information. How is the duty to be enforced? I am sure noble Lords on all sides would admit that the strength of our respective parties varies in different parts of the country. In my own party, the seat of Edinburgh West has recently gone through a selection process to replace my honourable friend John Barrett, who is standing down. There were numerous applications. It is a well run local party, and I am sure it is quite capable of giving the information to party headquarters to meet this obligation, so far as the candidates provide the information. I can also think of constituencies that, in party parlance, we call "black hole seats" where, when an election comes along, we are only too pleased to find enough people to sign the nomination paper and where, far from there being enough applications for nomination for a selection, we are delighted to find one person who might want to stand there. At the end of the election, there is a sigh of relief if we have managed to save the deposit, and the local people disappear again. Given some of the financial requirements in legislation, local parties are required to submit returns, but will they be required to submit returns to their national party for onward transmission? Is pressure going to be brought to bear on people who do their bit at election time and are quite happy to retreat into the background at other times? Will the Minister give some indication of where this duty will land and how it is intended to enforce it?