Clause 33 - Equality and human rights enactments
Equality Bill [Lords]
1:45 pm
Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)
I thank my hon. and learned Friend for raising those important issues. I welcome the work of the Equal Opportunities Commission, which, through campaigns on part-time workers and pregnancy in employment, has brought much needed attention to and raised awareness of the number of employers who still fail to maximise the benefits of the work force, particularly women. I am sure that Committee members of all parties will recognise the valuable contribution of the Equal Opportunities Commission to the debates.
The amendment would extend the scope of the new commission’s remit, so that it would be able to exercise its duties and use its powers in areas far beyond the confines of discrimination law and human rights. It would add employment rights concerned with maternity leave, parental leave, flexible working, termination of employment, redundancy, protection from victimisation and part-time working to the list of equality enactments in clause 33. Those employment rights have played an important role in helping women to advance in the workplace and enabling parents and carers to balance work and family life, but there is a difficulty in adding the relevant employment enactments to clause 33.
The commission exercises its regulatory role through its powers to support cases, to issue codes of practice and to bring enforcement actions. The regulatory role is confined to discrimination law, as has been the case for the existing commissions. It would be inappropriate to extend the regulatory role to areas of legislation that go beyond discrimination, because it would create a risk that the new commission would lose focus on its core role, which is centred on equality and human rights.
There is plenty, however, that the new commission will be able to do. Several provisions in the Bill give it wider powers than those that are available to the existing commissions, enabling the new body to take forward the excellent work of the Equal Opportunities Commission. It may be helpful if I set the powers out in a little more detail.
Clause 8 sets out equality and diversity duties. The new commission will be able to promote equality for women and men in their roles as carers, parents and part-time workers, thus building on the good practice of the Equal Opportunities Commission and Disability Rights Commission. The new commission will be able to use its powers to provide general advice, to undertake promotional work and to encourage good practice to drive forward work with employers in the relevant sector. It will also be able to use its inquiry powers, and its ability to comment on the impact of any law or proposed change in the law, to recommend action to Government on such issues. It will have wide-ranging powers to promote equality for women in all areas of their lives, just as the Equal Opportunities Commission has. That is separate from its powers to enforce specific items of legislation, as covered by the clause. The commission will be able to promote equality for women and men as carers and in aspects of working life such as family-friendly arrangements and pensions. It will work on a very broad front and be able to cover such issues as domestic violence.
The new body will be able to provide legal assistance to individuals in cases that combine a discrimination law provision with a matter dealt with under other legislation, including those listed in the amendment. Committee members will want to be aware that, in the longer term, the Government are reviewing the entire framework of discrimination law, through the discrimination law review, which has already been mentioned several times. The review will consider the legal framework of discrimination law and the issues relating to those with family and caring responsibilities. I hope that the Committee will agree that that review is the correct way to consider such matters further. As I have explained, those employment rights are beyond the scope of what we wish the new commission’s regulatory powers to focus on. There is plenty of opportunity to consider the issues involved within other powers available under the Bill. I ask my hon. and learned Friend to withdraw her amendment.