Clause 10 - Groups
Equality Bill [Lords]
6:00 pm
Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)
I thank my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Redcar for raising this important issue. I am sure that many Committee members will have received correspondence from constituents about this matter and related matters. I should say at the outset that I support the intention behind the amendment, but it is not necessary.
The new Commission for Equality and Human Rights has a duty to promote, very broadly, an understanding of the importance of equality and diversity. Clause 10 makes it clear that the commission should work towards the elimination of prejudice against certain groups, as well as enabling them to participate in society. The amendment would widen the definition listed in clause 10(2) to include all people who are transgendered. It would introduce a different definition from the one used elsewhere in the Bill and in other legislation—namely “transsexual”.
Transgender implies a wider range of identities, including transvestites, those who express an alternative gender role only occasionally, intersex people—those born with an ambiguous biological sex—and those who express themselves as neither male nor female. Transsexuals—people with an overwhelming need to undergo transition and to live permanently in the resulting role—are protected against discrimination under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. It is that definition that is used in the Bill.
The amendment would cause confusion, and we want to avoid any reduction in clarity and certainty in the application of the law. However, I am sympathetic to the claim that so precise a definition as that in clause 10, based on the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, could be over-restrictive for the purpose of the Commission’s work in promoting good relations, eliminating prejudice and encouraging participation in society.
For clarity, although clause 10 singles out groups based on the categories of people who are entitled to protection against discrimination, consistently with the general law on discrimination, it does not limit the commission’s wider duties under part 1, which include the duty generally to promote understanding of the importance of equality, diversity and human rights between all people and groups of people.
Clause 8, which sets out the commission’s equality and diversity duties, would provide the right statutory locus to enable the commission to work with and provide equality for the group in question and other groups that are not defined by discrimination law. In that sense, transgendered people are within the new commission’s remit, including its work to encourage good practice and promote understanding of the importance of equality and diversity. Under its wide equality and diversity duties, the commission could also promote good relations between transgendered people in other groups and between transgendered people and wider society and work towards eliminating prejudice, hatred and hostility towards them. The commission could also encourage transgendered people to participate in society as part of its duty to encourage good practice in relation to equality and diversity. I hope that I have made the position clear and that my hon. and learned Friend will consider withdrawing her amendment.