Paul Goggins (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wythenshawe & Sale East, Labour)

Clearly, it would be common ground in the Committee that it would be discriminatory if, on grounds of religion or belief, person A provided person B with goods, facilities or services that were of a lesser quality, or on different terms than those on which A would normally provide them to other members of the public. However, it is also the case that   some suppliers of goods, facilities and services choose to provide them in different ways to some sections of the public, for example, by offering preferential terms or discounts to students, the unemployed or old age pensioners.

The Bill would prevent a service provider from offering such discounts to a section of the public—for example, the unemployed—but then, on the grounds of religion or belief, refusing to provide that same service to a prospective customer who fell into that category. For example, if a theatre charged £6 per ticket in general but had a concessionary price for the unemployed of £5, it would be unlawful to charge an unemployed atheist the full price while arguing that that was the price that was generally available to the public. If that atheist were unemployed, they would fall within the category to which the theatre had decided to give a discount, and should be able to enjoy that as much as any other unemployed person. It would be discriminatory to prevent them from receiving that benefit because they held a particular belief.

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will see the merit of the provision. We do not want discrimination of the kind that I have just outlined. Where somebody belonging to a certain group obtains a benefit from a particular provider of goods, facilities or services, they should be able to receive it, and they should not be discriminated against because of their religious or other beliefs.

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