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Equality Bill [HL]

I thank the noble Baroness for her   response. I feel a momentary empathy with the Government Front Bench when a divergence of views comes around. The noble Baroness has just had occasion to look behind her. It is a fact that there is very little disagreement between us. Indeed, when I said that I was probing to find a way forward here, it is the right path. Everyone agrees that the work should be done. Perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, disagrees slightly in that he thinks that the family is the prime unit. I would say that the main job of the family is to allow young people to participate in the discussion. Also, if the family is dysfunctional and provides only a biased viewpoint or, indeed, endorses discrimination, someone has to put the case for the other side. We must talk directly to children on a level which they can both understand and relate to. If I heard the noble Baroness aright, she said that this work should be done and the powers are in place to do it, but that it is for the commission—once it has been set up—to decide how it will deliver.