Equality Bill [HL]

I fear that it is the noble Lord, Lord Peyton of Yeovil, and I who will debate the issues. The first thing that I want to say about Clause 9 is that it is the first time we have set out in legislation the human rights issues in the context of the commission. That in itself is important. The noble Lord has already taken me to task on the use of words and the wordiness of the Bill, but he will understand my defence that it is important to be clear about the commission’s work and role and to place them in the right context. It is important to allay the other concerns that noble Lords expressed at Second Reading about the body being somehow not controlled through legislation and therefore in a sense through Parliament in the context of what it is seeking to achieve. Clauses 8 and 9 are about the commission’s role and the way in which it will discharge its functions. In Clause 9, we are trying to be clear about the relationship between the commission and the different conventions on human rights. For example, when we talk about ““other human rights”” in Clause 9(2)(b), we are talking about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the commission’s role under the Paris principles and so on; we will debate those issues later. Equally, we are trying to make sure that the commission is aware that it has a responsibility to promote to bodies their need to take human rights seriously. I take note of what the noble Lord says and, as I have always indicated to him in the House and outside, I will look again at the language. So the essence of the clause, with which he may or may not agree, is to set out clearly for the first time the relationship between the commission and human rights; to be clear that it has a responsibility to promote understanding of what   those rights are; and to be clear that it has a responsibility under the Paris principles as the body that considers carefully the rights bestowed through other pieces of UN or EU legislation. That is the context. I am not sure that I will have satisfied the noble Lord, but that is the explanation that I can give him, and on that basis I hope that he can withdraw his amendment.