Clause 73
Equality Bill
4:00 pm
Vera Baird (Solicitor General, Attorney General's Office; Redcar, Labour)
Welcome back to the Committee, Lady Winterton. I believe that I had dealt with the specific technical points raised by amendments 13 and 14 and explained Government amendment 67, but Conservative Members made it clear that they intended to use their amendments to probe the bigger point that relates to clause 73 and question why the clause does not apply to the public sector.
The Bill’s purpose is not to compare the private and public sectors, like for like. The Government’s approach to the public sector is to impose an equality duty on it. One of the things that entails is for public authorities to demonstrate their compliance by reporting on their gender pay gap, though that has not been in the requirement. The proper place for detailed public sector requirements is in secondary legislation under clause 147, which we will debate in due course. That gives us flexibility to amend the requirements, should experience suggest that that is necessary.
The reporting requirement should not be seen in isolation. It relates to a number of things that public authorities should do to advance equality, foster good relations and eliminate discrimination, which are the terms of the duty. So we are not singling it out from the other specific duties. In that way, the requirement to be transparent about gender pay is firmly anchored in the wider requirements on the public sector.
To single out that requirement by also subjecting the public sector to clause 73 would introduce a sort of unwarranted double jeopardy situation. Public authorities that do not comply with their duty obligations will be subject to Equality and Human Rights Commission compliance notices, which are enforceable in the civil courts. It would be overkill to hit them with civil and criminal action under clause 73. It would also not make much sense.
The intention is that the duties will begin to operate from April 2011, which is two years before the power under clause 73 might be used. The duty on the public sector is more stringent. The equality duty requires it to have due regard to the need to advance equality, eliminate discrimination and foster good relations. As part of that, public authorities with more than 150 employees will report their gender pay gaps and other relevant metrics. As I have already explained, I would not want to lower the 250-or-more employee threshold in clause 73 to match that of the public sector.
If the suggestion is to replace the duty and pull it out of the single equality duty by putting public authorities under clause 73, it would be a regressive step for public sector accountability. Our detailed proposals for the specific duties are set out in the document, “Equality Bill: Making it work. Policy proposals for specific duties”, which we published on 11 June. That sets out specific duties to enable public authorities to carry out the equality duty more effectively. The closing date for that consultation is 30 September, and we hope to receive contributions from members of the Committee. We aim to publish our response before the end of the year.
I hope that that satisfies Conservative Members that we have gone in the right direction in putting the onus on gender pay reporting in the equality duty, with all its other characteristics, and not involving the public sector in clause 73.