Clause 29 - Ways in which provision conferring rights on individuals may be made
Employment Relations Bill
10:15 am
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
I shall be happy to do that. Clearly, there are well held views on all sides of the argument. The Bill gives the Government the power to put their view into law. I think that that would be wrong; I want to get the maximum number of people involved. The invitation is open to as wide a range and as many Churches as possible. It will be for those Churches and faiths to determine which individuals will represent them on the working group. I will not limit the number of members. The issue has been raised with me at Question Time on numerous occasions by hon. Members on both sides of the House, and has been discussed in the other place.
However, the working group will not be open-ended. We have to come to a conclusion. There are many issues, and there is much suffering when it comes to the way in which some of the faiths treat individuals. Those individuals need to have protection and rights. The Church of England has taken a positive step with its report, and I am pleased about that.
The answer to the hon. Gentleman's question is that it will be up to the faiths and the Churches to determine who the individuals are. The Government will consider who has an interest in the matter, and I am sure that if he wants to be involved in the working group, he can be.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 29 ordered to stand part of the Bill.