Schedule 1 - The Commission: Constitution, &c.
Equality Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
Paragraph 2(3) of schedule 1 states that the
“Secretary of State shall ensure that the Commission includes”
A disabled person and people who are concerned with Scotland and Wales. With amendment No. 52, we suggest that it should also include at least one female commissioner, one commissioner who represents an ethnic minority, one who is over 65 and one from the gay, lesbian and transgender community. We believe that the composition of the commission is vital to ensuring that it can undertake a wide range of difficult duties to the best of its ability.
Six so-called strands of potential inequality have been clearly identified and we currently have three bodies, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission.