New clause 17 - DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF
Equality Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)
I understand why the hon. Gentleman continues to raise the matter, and I should like to reassure him that the Government support the intention that underpins his amendment. Indeed, we have already started the work that is needed to extend protection against discrimination for transsexual people to areas beyond the employment field. The hon. Gentleman has proposed that we can achieve our shared objective of ending discrimination against transsexual people by simply extending part III of the Sex Discrimination Act to cover gender re-assignment. Before I explain the reasons why we do not support the new clause, it would be helpful to set out what its effect would be. Part III makes discrimination lawful in the fields of education and the provision of goods, facilities and services in the management and disposal of premises. Provisions in the Bill will also bring the functions of public authorities within part III.
Part III contains a number of exceptions. Those are narrowly drawn and refer specifically to situations where it is clearly sensible that the principle of equal treatment between women and men is not an absolute requirement—at least, that was what was considered to be the case when the Sex Discrimination Act became law in 1975. We are committed to providing that protection and a key strand of our work in the discrimination law review is to make discrimination against transsexual people unlawful.
However, we must look at what that will mean in practice for transsexual people and all the parties to whom the law will extend. To do that, we need to consult on the issues faced by all who would be affected and hear views on our proposals. We are taking forward the necessary preparatory work for legal change through the discrimination law review. We will consult on our proposals in a Green Paper in the spring of 2006 and we want to hear the views of all interested parties on the proposals. We believe that this is the best way to ensure that transsexual people get legal protection against discrimination and that the law is clear and workable for those who will have responsibilities under it. On that basis, I hope that the hon. Gentleman is reassured.