Schedule 2 - The Consumer Council for Water
Water Bill [Lords]
6:45 pm
Mr Bill Wiggin (Leominster, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 122, in
schedule 2, page 136, leave out lines 10 to 12 and insert 'understands disability'.
On page 136, the Government have sought to include disability as one of the criteria that would be constructive. Although I am in favour of taking all factors into consideration when appointing people, I am concerned that there is the potential for positive discrimination to creep into this provision. I therefore seek clarification by suggesting that the subsection should be omitted.
I hope that the Secretary of State would appoint the best person, and would consider that if they were disabled, that could be advantageous in terms of their viewpoint and experiences. However, I do not believe that it is helpful to include a provision regarding disability in the Bill. During much of the debate that we have had this evening, we have trusted that the Secretary of State would do the right thing and, in this case, that is the right way to proceed. The matter
should be addressed through a code of conduct, rather than by requiring a person to have a disability.
Most importantly, we are expecting the person in question to contribute in terms of their abilities and knowledge, but that contribution will not necessarily relate only to their ability, but to their experience on water. I therefore feel that this may be an inappropriate use of positive discrimination, and seek to clarify it with this amendment.