Equality Bill

I want to continue probing on the noble Lord’s behalf. The proviso he provides would save us a lot of bother in future. The words ““which is”” are slightly weaker. Many people who I have dealt with genuinely believe that they have been discriminated against and have gone through the tribunal and all kinds of different things and still think that they are being discriminated against. You then realise that what they want to do is not proportionate. If there had been a proviso right at the beginning, there is a chance that it would have concentrated the mind. I support the noble Lord’s change to ““provided it””, because it subtly asks whether a person really has grounds and whether it is so proportionate that it will achieve their aims and objectives. The noble Lord and I know of many cases which we have pursued and have been taken all around but which have achieved nothing. I want the noble Lord’s probing amendment to be more than probing and to be inserted, because it says it better that simply ““which is””. We have already meandered from Clause 157 to Clause 158. I prefer the phrase ““as qualified as””, because ““equally qualified to”” is mathematical. How would you measure it? How will someone know that I am equally as qualified? I sit in your Lordships’ House, and I do not think that I am equally qualified as some of your Lordships. It is better simply to say ““as qualified as””. It is more humbling and more genuine, so I shall stick with that phrase. Finally, on ““to be recruited or promoted””, I do not understand why that should be narrowed. I would rather have both. Of course, some people always worry that positive action means positive discrimination, but the word discrimination can be used in two different ways. In the Latin as well as the Greek, discrimination is the same word as discernment. I understand in this sense that positive action and promotion or recruitment means that it is discerning, not simply leaving someone out. I should rather use the same phrase—which for me is not positive discrimination but positive discernment. Unfortunately, some people do not discern that. I would not quarrel with the drafting as it is, except to say that ““provided it is proportionate”” is a much stronger way in which to put it.