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Equality Bill [HL]

My name is added to this amendment along with that of the noble Baroness, Lady Cox. I apologise for not being present at the start of proceedings after the dinner break but I was trying to locate the noble Baroness, Lady Cox. She wishes to apologise to the Committee that she was unable to get here this evening. However, she supports the comments that I now expound. Girlguiding UK, of which I am a vice-president, has an equal opportunities policy which is based on a belief in being fair, open and inclusive. Membership of the association is open to any girl or young woman irrespective of faith, race, culture, nationality or any other circumstance provided they are able to understand and are able to make, or work towards making, the promise—the promise which my noble friend Lady Miller enunciated so beautifully. She obviously remembers it from many years ago when she was an Akela. The Brownie promise and the rainbow promise, in simpler terms for the junior sections, both include the phrase ““to love my God””. Where in a religion God has a name which is more commonly used, that name may be substituted to make the promise more meaningful to each girl or woman. From the very beginnings of the Guide Association, nearly a century ago, the promise has been fundamental to its aims and ethos, and it is still regarded by the membership of the association as an element of girl guiding of particular significance and importance. It is a very precious asset in girl guiding and one which is treated carefully and with respect. There is recognition that a very few may consider themselves excluded from girl guiding membership because, by reason of a lack of faith in God of any kind, they are unable to make the promise. While that is sad, girl guiding is a members’ organisation which is designed, however broadly, for its membership—for example, being a single-sex organisation. It is morally legitimate to balance the interests of the many who regard the promise as being an essential part of guiding with the fact that this may exclude a very small number of individuals whose, or whose parents’, stance on the matter would not allow them to make the promise and so be admitted to membership. Clause 48 makes unlawful discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief—which Clause 45 defines as including lack of belief—in the provision of goods, facilities and services by a person whose business or concern it is to provide them to the public or section of the public. It will therefore be unlawful under the Bill, if enacted, for such a person, on the grounds of religion or belief, to refuse to provide services to a person who seeks to obtain or use them; or to provide services in a different manner than they would normally be provided to members of the public; or to provide services on different terms than those on which they would normally be provided to members of the public. Certain examples of areas in which discrimination would be unlawful are given in Clause 48(2). These, taken together, would appear generally to encompass services of a commercially provided nature, and apart from the reference to facilities for entertainment, recreation or refreshment, there is nothing which is immediately identifiable as being allied to the kind of services provided by a voluntary organisation concerned with activities for children. On the other hand, the examples are not exhaustive. There are certainly aspects of girl guiding activities that could be said to involve entertainment, recreation or refreshment. Subsection (5) makes it clear that it is immaterial whether a charge is made for the provision of the services concerned. I am concerned that the proposed legislation would unreasonably interfere with the ability of the Guide Association to adhere to the traditions and beliefs of its membership in general by making it unlawful to continue the requirement to include that an intending member make the promise as a condition of membership. I hope very much that the Minister will look favourably on this amendment.