Clause 81 - Prohibition of discrimination
Equality Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Beaconsfield, Conservative)
We now consider public functions in relation to sex discrimination. The clause would make it unlawful for a public authority exercising a function to do any act that constitutes such discrimination.
Exactly the same issue—exemptions to the prohibition—applies to this clause as to the clause on religious discrimination. The grounds for exempting from the provisions the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service, GCHQ and the part of the armed forces of the Crown that assists GCHQ are, however, even weaker than the ones that may apply in the case of religious belief. I know that it has become almost standard practice in House of Commons and House of Lords legislation of this sort to include those bodies in the list, but I hope that the Minister will explain in detail why that is necessary.
After all, I should have thought that any issues of national security would apply identically to people of whatever orientation, whether gay or heterosexual, and it is difficult to understand why this particular exemption should be applied. Will the Minister say, as far as she can, what internal mechanism may operate in those organisations to allow complaints to be made administratively if the protection of the Bill is not extended to people working in those organisations?