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Equality Bill

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Low of Dalston, for making some very important points, and I join him in thanking the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for clarifying the position and in particular for heeding and accepting the advice of the noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill. As he is a solicitor of the senior court—I think that I am no longer allowed to say the Supreme Court—I normally have to pay substantial sums to obtain that sort of advice. I do not want to debase the advice by saying that the noble Lord gives it completely free of charge, but he does that on so many occasions in this place and I am very grateful to him for clarifying ““public authority””, ““government department”” and ““government authority””. I share the slight confusion of my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay of Clashfern as to exactly where we are. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, for pointing us in the right direction, but I am not sure that I have yet reached the destination that he would advise me to reach.