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Equality Bill [HL]

My Lords, I can assure noble Lords, particularly my noble friends Lord Alli, Lord Smith of Finsbury and Lady Turner, that we feel as strongly and as passionately about this injustice as do they. From the stance that the Government have taken through a number of Bills—not only this Bill but the Civil Partnerships Bill and other Bills in this area—I hope, that there is no doubt about our position. But there are some very difficult and complex issues involved when seeking to draft provisions which will appropriately meet the needs in this case. I can assure my noble friend Lord Alli that a great deal of work was done throughout the summer. He will know that the work in relation to the review on discrimination and harassment has been ongoing and that we have put a deal of energy into it. We, too, have been horrified by the incidents which have been brought to our attention—not least by the homophobic motivated murder on Clapham Common last weekend, to which a number of noble Lords have referred. So we are at one in relation to those matters. The question is: how quickly can this be done? My noble friend Lord Alli was right to underline the total commitment to this issue which has been expressed by the Secretary of State responsible for dealing with this matter primarily—that is, my right honourable friend Alan Johnson. He said that discrimination against people on the grounds of sexual orientation is wrong in all contexts. He wants to see it outlawed in goods and services and is absolutely committed to us achieving that in this Parliament. So I hope there is no misunderstanding about the level of commitment. We are not anxious to lose any time. I take absolutely the point made by my noble friend Lord Smith that we do not want to be rotten before we are ripe. But this is an issue which will take us a little time. We are continuing our discussions to see what more can be done in the course of the Bill. I certainly undertake to give your Lordships a full explanation of what we think we can do, both in relation to consultation or otherwise, when we come back to report.