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Equality Bill

I shall speak to Amendments 107B, 108EB and 108GA in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Low. As the noble Lord explained, these amendments would make explicit the anticipatory nature of the reasonable adjustment duty; that is, when considering a particular reasonable adjustment, education providers need to consider the needs of disabled people more generally. I agree that the consideration of such duties needs to be anticipatory and they are already framed differently from the DDA. In her letter of 20 January, my noble friend the Leader of the House has already explained that in detail to my noble friend Lady Wilkins in response to the matter raised in Committee on 19 January. The noble Lord, Lord Low, has received a copy of that, as he said, and it is available in the Library. This is not a fundamental disagreement of policy or principle, as we and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, agree that the reasonable adjustment duty should be anticipatory. There is simply a disagreement on drafting. The noble Lord, Lord Low, and my noble friend LadyWilkins want it to be drafted differently in the Bill. I understand their desire to make that clearer and, therefore, we shall go away and consider whether anything further can be done to this part of the Bill. On that basis, I hope the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment.