Clause 27 - Conciliation
Equality Bill [Lords]
1:00 pm
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
I thank the Minister for giving way so that I can make my recurrent point again. She made the point herself that conciliation is usually a much less costly and disruptive method of settling a dispute than full court proceedings. Under the 1998 Act, the costs and number of court proceedings have escalated massively, thereby placing a burden not only on the public purse but generally, and putting much more strain on the court system. If clause 27 included the 1998 Act, as the Liberal Democrats, unusually, correctly suggest—it is a great pleasure to support one of their amendments for once—it would have the very good effect of saving not only public money but other money that might be spent on litigation.