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Equality Bill [HL]

When I reach the end of my speech, I think that the noble and learned Lord will, perhaps, be more reassured. I was about to say that I recognised the strength of feeling behind the amendment tabled by the noble Earl, Lord Ferrers, which changes ““creation of”” to ““encouraging””. That is important and is not very different from what the noble Earl said. I was going to propose that I took away the noble Earl’s amendment, to consider with parliamentary counsel what we might do. In the broader context, and I make no apology for setting out where we are and what the clause does and does not do, I shall look again, not only with the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, but with those who have been involved in drafting the clause, and see how we might strengthen it in the right way. I should be clear—the clause does not confer powers. That is not its purpose—it sets the context. I must ensure that that is more explicit in the Bill. That might be achieved by simply changing the heading from ““Fundamental duty””, as the noble Earl indicated. I do not know. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, as we have discussed, we are not lawyers—we are lay people. Thank goodness for that, I sometimes say to myself. But because of that, it is important that we work closely with those who have drafted the Bill. This is a context clause and does not establish an unprecedented power. That is absolutely not what we would do. We fully agree with that. We are looking to see how we can make the Bill better, so that noble Lords will feel more comfortable, while not losing its essence—that it is ““law plus”” which will make a difference. On that basis, I hope that noble Lords will feel comfortable about withdrawing their amendments.