Equality Bill

I thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Liverpool and the noble Lord, Lord Lester, for making points that are very effective in their own right rather than being questions to me. I never like having questions that I cannot answer, so let me pay tribute to them as effective points in their own right. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Liverpool made a strong point. How on earth could I disagree with the point about access? I remember well that some of my early service was spent in assisting at the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital at Heswall, as it then was. As well as fighting to prevent it from closing, I remember being educated in the whole area of special needs. It is such a good phrase because it encapsulates all that we are seeking to identify. But how do we ensure that those special needs are taken properly into account? That is what the debate about. I understand why some of the amendments are designed to ensure that there is no regression from the existing disability equality duty contained in the Disability Discrimination Act, where public authorities must take account of people’s disability even when that involves treating disabled people more favourably than others, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has just examined very carefully with the rest of us. I understand that that duty would be included under Clause 13. The Minister must correct me if I am mistaken. However, certainly from these Benches, we are keen to ensure that there is no regression from the Disability Discrimination Act in the public sector equality duty. That is absolutely at the heart of all that is necessary and must be protected. I now look forward to hearing a positive response from the Minister. The one lesson I have learnt over the years is that the word "equality" does not mean treating everyone in the same way. To treat people with disability in the same way would mean that they would never have any opportunity to achieve equality. It would be useful to hear from the Minister the Government’s reasoning for the fact that the duty is not explicitly stated here. That is one of the key questions I wanted to put, but I will be very interested in the Government’s response to all the points that have been made in this important debate.