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91

 

House of Commons

 
 

Thursday 11 June 2009

 

Public Bill Committee

 

New Amendments handed in are marked thus Parliamentary Star

 

Parliamentary Star - whiteAmendments which will comply with the required notice period at their next appearance

 

Equality Bill


 

Note

 

The Amendments have been arranged according to the Order of the Committee

 

[2 June 2009].

 


 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

35

 

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  26,  leave out subsections (2) to (7).

 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

2

 

Clause  1,  page  1,  line  29,  leave out subsection (3) and insert—

 

‘(3)    

A Minister of the Crown may by regulations list public authorities to which this

 

section applies.’.

 

John Mason

 

107

 

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  17,  after ‘England’, insert—

 

‘(l)    

the Financial Services Authority;

 

(m)    

the Office of Communications;

 

(n)    

the Office of Fair Trading;

 

(o)    

the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets;

 

(p)    

the Security Industry Authority.’.


 
 

Public Bill Committee: 11 June 2009                     

92

 

Equality Bill, continued

 
 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

108

 

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  17,  at end insert—

 

‘(l)    

Transport for London;

 

(m)    

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority;

 

(n)    

London Development Agency;

 

(o)    

Metropolitan Police Authority.’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to include members of the GLA family in the socio-economic duty.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

109

 

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  17,  at end insert—

 

‘(l)    

a fire and rescue authority constituted by a scheme under section 2 of the

 

Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004, or a scheme to which section 4 of that

 

Act applies, for an area in England.’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to include Fire Authorities in the socio-economic duty.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

181

 

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  17,  at end insert—

 

‘(3A)    

This section also applies to those bodies responsible for inspecting or regulating

 

public sector bodies.’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to ensure that the socio-economic duty applies to inspectorates of public sector

 

bodies.

 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

4

 

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  18,  leave out subsection (4).

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

110

 

Clause  1,  page  2,  line  35,  leave out subsection (7).

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to remove the exemption from the socio-economic duty in relation to people who

 

are immigrants or asylum-seekers.

 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

1

 

Page  1,  line  21,  leave out Clause 1.

 



 
 

Public Bill Committee: 11 June 2009                     

93

 

Equality Bill, continued

 
 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

3

 

Page  2,  line  39,  leave out Clause 2.

 


 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

5

 

Page  3,  line  37,  leave out Clause 3.

 


 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

115

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  9,  leave out ‘reassignment’ and insert ‘identity’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to widen the definition of who is protected from transgender discrimination.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

183

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  11,  leave out ‘pregnancy and maternity’ and insert

 

‘pregnancy, maternity and paternity’.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

126

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  11,  leave out ‘maternity’ and insert ‘parenthood’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to extend the protected characteristic of pregnancy and maternity to encompass

 

new fathers.

 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

6

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  11,  at end insert ‘or paternity’.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

111

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  15,  at end insert—

 

    

‘caste’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to outlaw discrimination based on a person’s caste.


 
 

Public Bill Committee: 11 June 2009                     

94

 

Equality Bill, continued

 
 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

112

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  15,  at end insert—

 

    

‘genetics and family medical history’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to outlaw discrimination on the basis of a person’s genetics or family medical

 

history.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

113

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  15,  at end insert—

 

    

‘belonging to a disadvantaged socio-economic group’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to outlaw discrimination against a person on the basis of their belonging to a

 

disadvantaged socio-economic group.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

182

 

Clause  4,  page  4,  line  15,  at end insert—

 

    

‘carer status’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to outlaw discrimination against carers.

 


 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

114

 

Clause  6,  page  5,  line  4,  leave out ‘and long-term’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to remove the requirement for a disability to be long-term before a person with that

 

disability is afforded protection from discrimination.

 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

166

 

Clause  6,  page  5,  line  19,  at end insert—

 

‘(4A)    

Where reference is made in this Act to a person who is perceived to have a

 

disability (B), the reference is taken to apply to this person whether or not the

 

perceived impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on B’s

 

ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’.

 



 
 

Public Bill Committee: 11 June 2009                     

95

 

Equality Bill, continued

 
 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

186

 

Parliamentary Star - white    

Schedule  1,  page  144,  line  11,  leave out ‘it’.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

187

 

Parliamentary Star - white    

Schedule  1,  page  144,  line  12,  leave out ‘it’.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

188

 

Parliamentary Star - white    

Schedule  1,  page  144,  line  13,  leave out ‘it’.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

179

 

Schedule  1,  page  144,  line  10,  at end insert ‘the effect’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

To clarify the meaning of the sub-paragraph.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

180

 

Schedule  1,  page  144,  line  16,  leave out ‘effect is likely to recur’ and insert

 

‘impairment is of a nature where it, or its effects, is liable to recur’.

 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

167

 

Schedule  1,  page  144,  line  16,  at end insert—

 

‘(2A)    

Without prejudice to the operation of sub-paragraph (2), the mental impairment

 

consisting of or resulting from depression that has ceased to have a substantial

 

adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities shall

 

always be treated as if that effect is likely to recur if the person has had within the

 

last 5 years a previous episode of such impairment which had a substantial

 

adverse effect on the person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities for

 

a period of 6 months or more.’.

 


 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

116

 

Page  5,  line  23,  leave out Clause 7.

 



 
 

Public Bill Committee: 11 June 2009                     

96

 

Equality Bill, continued

 
 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

127

 

Clause  8,  page  6,  line  7,  leave out ‘or a civil partner’ and insert ‘, a civil partner, co-

 

habiting or single’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to protect single and co-habiting people from discrimination.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

128

 

Clause  8,  page  6,  line  10,  leave out ‘or is a civil partner’ and insert ‘, a civil partner,

 

co-habiting or single’.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

129

 

Clause  8,  page  6,  line  12,  leave out ‘or are civil partners’ and insert ‘, civil partners,

 

co-habiting or single’.

 


 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

7

 

Clause  13,  page  9,  line  5,  leave out ‘because of’ and insert ‘on grounds of’.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

132

 

Clause  13,  page  9,  line  5,  leave out ‘because of’ and insert ‘on the grounds of’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to revert the causality of discrimination to pre-Equality Bill wording.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

130

 

Clause  13,  page  9,  line  5,  leave out ‘a’ and insert ‘one or more than one’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to permit claims of direct discrimination and harassment on multiple form of

 

discrimination.

 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

133

 

Clause  13,  page  9,  line  10,  leave out subsection (3) and insert—

 

‘(3)    

If the protected characteristic is disability, nothing in this section shall be taken

 

to prohibit more favourable treatment of a disabled person on the grounds of a

 

disabled person’s disability.’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to retain the asymmetric nature of disability discrimination.


 
 

Public Bill Committee: 11 June 2009                     

97

 

Equality Bill, continued

 
 

Mr Mark Harper

 

John Penrose

 

Mr John Baron

 

168

 

Clause  13,  page  9,  line  15,  at end insert—

 

‘(3A)    

If the protected characteristic is disability, this section applies to a person who is

 

perceived to have a disability.’.

 

John Mason

 

36

 

Clause  13,  page  9,  line  22,  at end insert—

 

‘(b)    

less favourable treatment includes placing tighter restrictions on

 

expression related to religion or belief than on expression not related to

 

religion or belief.’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

Makes clear that treating religious speech less favourably than non-religious speech is a form of

 

direct discrimination.

 


 

Lynne Featherstone

 

Dr Evan Harris

 

191

 

Parliamentary Star    

Clause  14,  page  10,  leave out lines 3 to 6 and insert—

 

‘(a)    

A treats B in a particular way for a reason arising from B’s disability,

 

(b)    

the treatment amounts to a detriment, and

 

(c)    

A cannot show that the treatment is a proportionate means of achieving a

 

legitimate aim.

 

(4A)    

For the purposes of this section, A treats B in a particular way for a reason arising

 

from B’s disability if—

 

(a)    

A treats B in that way for a reason arising from B’s disability (but not by

 

reason of B’s disability itself); or

 

(b)    

A treats B in that way for a reason arising from a manifestation of or

 

behaviour connected with B’s disability (but not by reason of B’s

 

disability itself).

 

(1B)    

For the purposes of subsection (4), A treats B in a particular way for a reason

 

arising from B’s disability even if A treats or would treat another person without

 

a disability in the same way as B where that other person’s circumstances are

 

otherwise the same as those of A.

 

(1C)    

For the purposes of this section, the circumstances in which A shall be taken to

 

be reasonably expected to know about B’s disability include where A has failed

 

to ask B if he has a disability.’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

An amendment to restore the level of protection afforded to disabled people to that before the

 

House of Lords judgement in LB Lewisham v. Malcolm. It also prevents ignorance being a defence

 

of detrimental treatment.


 
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