Clause 7 - Scotland: human rights
Equality Bill [Lords]
4:11 pm
Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)
Welcome to the Chair, Mrs. Anderson. It is always a pleasure to see you there.
This is a minor drafting amendment. Clause 7 limits the role of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights in Scotland, allowing the commission to take human rights action on devolved matters only with the consent of a “body” established by an Act of the Scottish Parliament. When the clause was drafted, it was anticipated that that body would be a Scottish human rights commission. However, a Bill introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 7 October will create a Scottish commissioner for human rights. The amendment merely updates the drafting to reflect the fact that the Scottish Parliament will create a post, not a body. It in no way changes the policy set out in the clause.
One effect of clause 7 will be that the Commission for Equality and Human Rights will not be able to institute or intervene in legal proceedings that relate to a matter that falls within the devolved competence of the Scottish Parliament without the proposed Scottish commissioner’s consent. To ensure that that works correctly, we expect there to be a memorandum of understanding between the CEHR and the Scottish commissioner. Where the CEHR obtains the Scottish commissioner’s consent to institute or intervene in proceedings or judicial review on a devolved matter, clause 30(3) will enable the commission to rely on convention rights in the proceedings without having to obtain a separate consent from the Scottish commissioner.