Equality Bill

We tabled this probing amendment to ask the Government for reassurance about the operation of the public sector equality duty in relation to small organisations. Our amendment would provide an exception to the public sector equality duty, which would mean that any public authority, or a non-public authority that had been subcontracted to carry out functions of behalf of a public authority, should not be subject to the public sector equality duty if it employed fewer than 250 people. Research carried out by the Government to analyse the functions of the public sector equality duty and its impact was carried out predominantly on large organisations. Research to support extending the duty to other protected characteristics was based on research by Schneider-Ross Ltd. Most of the respondents in that case were large organisations. Some 30 per cent of the 174 organisations that replied to the survey employed between 1,000 and 4,999 people. Only 2 per cent employed fewer than 150 people. Has any further or alternative research been undertaken that concentrates more fully on small businesses? Concerns have been expressed to us that the public sector equality duty may be too onerous on businesses with fewer than 250 employees and that no information has been provided to suggest otherwise. Without any such reassuring information, it is perhaps premature to saddle smaller businesses with this burden until further research has been undertaken. This is a particularly pertinent question because, if the organisations subject to gender pay gap reporting are only those with more than 250 employees, might that not make sense in this case as well? A second concern is the potential lack of clarity in this area. We have been informed that Section 6(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998 states that a person may be defined as a public authority for exercising public functions. Would that mean, therefore, that a single person could be classed as having to abide by the public sector equality duty? Certain groups are worried because, as the Bill stands, it is unclear exactly to whom the public sector equality duty would apply. I have another question about smaller organisations that have had public functions outsourced to them. We covered most of this in a debate on a previous day and I will not go over those arguments. However, will the Minister confirm that if public functions are outsourced to a small charity—for example, one based on religious principles—the employment exceptions in paragraph 3 of Schedule 9 would still apply? In other words, will the charity continue to function under the terms of its foundation charter even though it would be performing a service on behalf of a secular public authority? Will the Minister clarify where the terms of a charity's foundation charter would apply and where they would not? If a public sector authority has outsourced some of its functions, in terms of those functions, will the public sector authority duty or the charity’s foundation charter have pre-eminence? Finally, there is a question to be asked about organisations where jobs cannot be neatly segregated into those that would be tied into the public sector equality duty and those that would come under the private functions of a small organisation. For example, if a small care home operates under a Christian ethos, would that care home have a right to demand that staff were of the same religion? Moreover, if the care home also had some of the public care provision outsourced to it, under the terms of the public sector equality duty would it be able to ask for all staff to be of the same religion? I ask this because in such organisations it would not be possible to separate the roles into those which clearly came under the new equality duty, and those which remained under the small, private organisation. I see the Minister looking confused, and we are confused, but these are genuine concerns which have been raised with us, so I look forward to her response and hope she can shed some light in this area. I beg to move.