Equality Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 93:"Page 5, line 19, leave out ““the involuntary isolation of”” and insert ““segregation and promote the inclusion of all””" The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 93 seeks to deal with the involuntary isolation of communities. Currently, the text implies that communities—composed of individuals—find themselves isolated without having had any say in the matter; that is, involuntarily isolated. The more pressing problem for those of us who ““cover”” communities at great length, including vis-à-vis the ““respect agenda””, is that groups of people—for whatever reason, including religion, culture, race, socio-economic issues—stay together and choose segregation as an option. They do so very deliberately. They may not appreciate that by remaining as a segregated group they are becoming increasingly isolated. Hence, the aim of Clause 11(1)(d) would be better served through promoting the inclusion of all members of different communities. The amendment came to my attention through the Commission for Racial Equality, which has done a lot of work. I as a member of the Muslim community, and particularly poignantly in the context of the events of the past week, have become much more aware of the problems that segregation can cause. We feel that the Bill’s aim would be better served by rewording it in this manner. I beg to move.