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Equality Bill [HL]

My Lords, this Bill is a core commitment of Liberal Democrats, and therefore we share entirely the Government’s objective of securing the speedy passage of the Bill provided it is fit for purpose. As I said at Second Reading, one of the problems that the Government have had in managing the Bill is that responsibility is spread over so many different departments. That has required an unusual degree of co-ordination with Ministers looking over each others’ shoulders and their officials doing the same. I hope that it does not harm the future career of the noble Baroness, Lady Ashton, if I say that in my dealings with her this summer and autumn she has shown quite extraordinary open-mindedness and skill in listening, and she and her team in responding, to all the points put by all of us in the earlier debates. I really think that without her as midwife, if that is the right profession, we would not be where we now are. I also while expressing my gratitude would like to take the unusual course of naming a particular public officer, the parliamentary counsel dealing with this, Daniel Greenberg, who has been imaginative in dealing with the real concerns that we have had rather than theoretical concerns. It has therefore been an enormous pleasure to see what we attempted to do ineptly in putting down our amendments about independence translated into the real safeguards that have been described by the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor in ways that I do not need to repeat. We on these Benches are entirely happy with what is a powerful package of measures to strengthen the commission’s independence compatibly with its status as a non-governmental organisation. We realise that ““independence”” was inconsistent with that status, but what is imaginative about the measures is that they address the real problems about transparency, merit appointment, no unnecessary ministerial interference, and a ministerial duty not to be bossy except in extreme cases. All that is embodied in the package. Several noble Lords present who have been on equality commissions in the past as distinguished chairs or deputy chairs—I am thinking particularly of the noble Baronesses, Lady Lockwood and Lady Howe of Idlicote—will realise that the measures are a great improvement on the situation of the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality or the Disability Rights Commission. Therefore, we fully support the package. Much as we understand why the noble Lord, Lord Ouseley, and other colleagues seek to add other amendments, for the reasons given by the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor we believe that this package is the most satisfactory outcome. We are rather against silo thinking—that is how the noble Baroness, Lady Ashton, put it at one stage—and like a holistic approach not cluttered by too many mechanistic solutions. Therefore, we fully support the amendments.