Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)

Welcome back, Mr. Gale. I was mid-paragraph, or even mid-sentence, so I shall go back to the beginning of that paragraph to create some consistency.

Creating a truly responsive public service means ensuring that public authorities are fully aware of the differing needs of their staff, customers or end-users, and building in robust mechanisms for them to respond to such needs at every level and in every aspect of their functions. At a higher level, we see that as a vital component of the culture change in the public sector.

Clause 82 introduces a new section 76A in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, which provides for a public sector duty to promote gender equality. The clause imposes a general statutory duty, as distinct from clause 83, which provides powers for the Secretary of State to impose specific duties on public authorities to assist them in achieving the general duty.

In October, the Government issued a consultation document ''Advancing Equality for Men and Women: Government proposals to introduce a public sector duty to promote gender equality''—a snappy title—on those specific duties, requesting comments by 12 January 2006. A copy has been placed in the Library. The clause was amended in another place to bring an explicit reference to harassment into subsection (1). That took place on the back of the recent amendment of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 through the implementation of the equal treatment amendment directive. The new provision will require all public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harassment when carrying out their functions, and to promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

The general duty also ensures protection against contraventions or breaches to the terms of contractual pay and benefits as legislated for in the Equal Pay Act 1970. As the Committee is no doubt well aware, the gender pay gap still shows disadvantages for working women.

The gender duty, which we intend to come into effect from 1 April 2007, will apply to any person who carries out a public function. That definition is deliberately wide and accords with similar definitions utilised in the general duties for both race and disability equality. The duty will apply to easily   recognisable public bodies such as Departments, local authorities and national health service trusts. Private sector bodies that provide services on behalf of a public authority, such as running a prison, also fall within the scope of the gender duty.

Private sector bodies are covered by the gender duty only in relation to areas of work that constitute a public function. For example, it will apply to a private contractor to the extent that he provides security services to a prison but not in relation to any of his services provided for customers or businesses in the private sector. Therefore, the duty will not apply to private contractors who do not carry out public functions.

We recognise that this is a complex area where careful guidance will be needed to clarify how and when bodies are subject to the duty. It is part of the current public consultation exercise. Subsections (3) and (4) of proposed new section 76A list various exceptions in the form of public authorities which need not comply with the duty and functions to which the duty does not apply. These exceptions are similar to those provided in respect of the duties on race and disability equality.

Broadly speaking, the duty will not apply to bodies that make law in Great Britain, including the General Synod, or to the intelligence services. Neither will it apply to court proceedings or proceedings in Parliament, even though in the case of the latter it will apply, for example, to the parliamentary authorities who employ Commons and Lords catering and cleaning staff, the Libraries and so on.

Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)

I make a small point. I wonder why in clause 82(3)(c) there is a reference to the Scottish Parliament, when in clauses 51 and 81, where the exceptions are similar to those in clause 82, there is no mention of the Scottish Parliament.

Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)

If the hon. Lady will allow me to continue, we will get a full answer to that shortly. It is an important point.

The exceptions of which I spoke—in relation to Parliament, for example—which preserve the full discretion of our law-making and security institutions, are justified. Subsection (2) of clause 83 amends the 1975 Act to make it necessary for the Secretary of State to consult the commission before making an order to add to the list of exceptions. Although it would be unusual, and certainly undesirable, for the Secretary of State not to make full use of the expertise and experience of the commission in this respect, the purpose of the requirement is to provide complete certainty that the commission's voice will be heard. Our proposals have been warmly welcomed. They constitute a vital leap in the field of gender equality and ensure that there is increasing confidence that public services will meet the differing needs of both men and women, and that all will benefit. I have explained those matters in detail, because I want the Committee to be clear about the importance of the public sector gender duty.

On the specific point raised by the hon. Lady, clauses 51 and 81 are not about making specific laws,   but about public functions. The reason why the specification is in this clause is to do with the Scottish Parliament being in a position to make laws in the way that we do. If any further clarification on that is required, I am sure that we can provide it.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 82 ordered to stand part of the Bill.