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Equality Bill

My Lords, Amendment 20, moved by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, is similar to an amendment moved in Committee by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern. During that debate, my noble friend Lady Thornton made it clear that, where it is operationally feasible for service providers to make allowances for the views of their staff, they are free to do so. However, if this amendment were accepted, we would be going even further by requiring service providers, so far as possible, to make reasonable adjustments for the views of their staff in the light of their beliefs on sexual orientation. It is our view that no one offering goods or services to the public on a commercial basis should be able to discriminate on any grounds. While we understand that individuals may have strong views, in this modern world those views cannot be used as a reason for prejudice or discrimination. As an employer, a service provider can already, when reasonably able, take practical measures to respect the private views of staff. The noble and learned Baroness and other noble Lords raised the recent case of the registrar. In that case, the Appeal Court handed down its judgment, which confirms that, while everybody is, of course, free to hold personal opinions about sexual orientation, those who are employed in providing a service to the public are legally obliged to treat their gay, lesbian and bisexual customers in the same way as they treat their heterosexual customers. In the case of registrars, that demonstrates that, if an individual registrar does not want to conduct a civil partnership ceremony because of his or her religious beliefs, a local authority could arrange for a different registrar to conduct the ceremony, if there is one available. However, if there is no other registrar available, the local authority can and should require the registrar to carry out the ceremony. That is precisely what happened in the case in question. The amendment tabled by the noble and learned Baroness would go further by imposing an undefined and burdensome new duty on service providers to accommodate the views of their employees relating to sexual orientation. This would upset the balance that the Bill currently strikes where there are potentially conflicting rights. In this case, that balance is appropriately struck by the prohibition of indirect discrimination, which protects employees against an employer’s failure to accommodate their beliefs. This means that, where an employer’s policy or practice puts a group of employees sharing a protected characteristic at a disadvantage, that policy has to be objectively justified. In addition, we think that this amendment is not only unnecessary but would introduce uncertainty and confusion in what is expected of service providers, when the main focus should be on ensuring that they provide services to the public without discrimination in accordance with their legal obligations. Amendment 21 would turn back the clock for adoption and fostering agencies. The proposed new paragraph in Schedule 3 would provide an open-ended, block exemption, allowing faith-based adoption and fostering agencies, for religious reasons, to refuse their services to a person because of his or her sexual orientation, provided that they referred that person to another agency. This Government are committed to adoption for children where this is in their best interests and we have made it clear that we are also committed to ensuring that people are treated fairly, no matter what their sexual orientation. That is why the Adoption and Children Act 2002, and its Scottish equivalent, focused strongly on the needs of children awaiting adoption and widened the pool of prospective adopters to include same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples. It is also why the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 introduced the right for same-sex couples and single, homosexual or bisexual people to be treated the same as other prospective adopters by adoption agencies. Under the regulations, adoption agencies must offer the same service to all couples or individuals who wish to adopt. Since that time, I have witnessed real joy, as I am sure many noble Lords have, for gay and lesbian couples who have adopted children and who have made a profound difference to the lives of those children. Children’s best interests must remain paramount. All prospective adopters undergo the same thorough and rigorous assessment process, irrespective of their sexual orientation, to ensure that children are matched with families who can best meet their needs. Like the noble Lord, Lord Patten, I pay tribute to the excellent work of all adoption agencies but, unlike him, I see no anomaly between the gentleman that he mentioned being bestowed with an honour for his work with adoption agencies and children and the law as it stands. The Government made it clear at the time of introducing the 2007 sexual orientation regulations that there could be no exemptions from the regulations for faith-based adoption agencies offering publicly funded services. This was debated at length. We recognise the valuable services that these agencies provide and the vital role that they play in improving outcomes for some of our most vulnerable children. We also recognise, like the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, that adoption agencies work with families over many years. The noble Lord, Lord Patten asked why, given that the Government were warned that agencies would close, they did not find a way through. We provided a transition period until 31 December 2008 to allow those agencies time to prepare for, and adjust to, the new requirements. We commissioned an independent review to assess the implications and we provided an additional £500,000 to support faith-based adoption agencies in England and Wales to help them to understand the implications of the new regulations. We have listened to the viewpoints of all groups and carefully considered the views and needs of the sector. When the regulations were introduced in 2007, it was predicted that Catholic adoption agencies would close. I have heard many things around the House today but I believe that the predictions, in the main, were wrong. According to the latest independent assessment panel’s reports, the regulations have not led to any significant loss of capacity in the sector. I noted the statistics about adoption agencies mentioned by various noble Lords but, according to the figures that I have, only one Catholic adoption agency closed and all others are operating within the law.