Clause 15 - Codes of practice: supplemental
Equality Bill
9:15 am
Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I understand what the hon. Lady is trying to do, but quite apart from the Race Relations Act, the form of words used in clause 15(4) is very common in a large amount of legislation in respect of drawing a court’s attention to a code. It applies, for example, in health and safety legislation, where the regulations can be drawn to the attention of a court in civil proceedings even though they are not prescriptive. Although I understand what the hon. Lady is getting at, I am not sure that it would be particularly helpful to require the court to act on the code, because the code’s general terms may not apply to particular circumstances. I do not share her anxiety that the Government’s wording will somehow mean that the code will not feature in a case. I think that it is clear that the code will feature in a case. All that is required is for someone to say—the court could do this of its own motion—“Well, there’s the code. Let’s look at that to see how it helps us in determining the case.”
If we took the route that the hon. Lady suggests, the provision would become prescriptive and would not be particularly helpful. As I said, the Government’s wording is a well tried formula. I have not encountered the problem of its leading to the code in some way not being relevant to court proceedings. We must bear it in mind that the code will not be able to cover every contingency. From that point of view, it is open to people to say, “Well, the code may say this, but the circumstances of the case are different.” The problem with the amendment is that it could prevent that from happening, which would not necessarily be fair or provide a good solution in the sort of proceedings with which we are dealing.