Clause 27
Equality Bill
2:15 pm
Vera Baird (Solicitor General, Attorney General's Office; Redcar, Labour)
The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon said this morning that he would not pursue the matter because he thought it was tied up in the earlier discussion about harassment. He has managed to have a debate about an amendment that would add harassment to the Bill, and not at all about public authority and its definition. There is a time in the Bill when we will talk about how we define public authority and public functions, but it is not now. I will deal with the issues when the time is right. It is up to the hon. Gentleman either to withdraw the amendment or press it to a vote.
We have not made the distinction between public and private services in the primary legislation on race relations and sex discrimination. Both are covered in the same way in the Bill.
On schools, I hope that the hon. Member for Forest of Dean finds it a satisfactory answer when I say we need to go to part 6, where education is completely covered. If he does not, I will write to him about the actual point he raises.