Equality Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 101:"Page 6, line 15, leave out subsection (3)." The noble Lord said: Amendment No. 101 is in the names of my noble friends Lord Lester of Herne Hill and Lord Dholakia and the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar. All other amendments in this group are in the names of myself, my noble friend Lord Lester and the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar. This group of amendments is linked to the first group, which was debated in Committee last week, on 6 July. It concerns the independence of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. The group with which we dealt last week was concerned with the structural and   constitutional independence of the commission, involving the selection and removal of commissioners, the funding of the commission and the making of reports by the commission. All the amendments in the first group amended Schedule 1, the schedule that deals with the constitution of the commission. This group, however, concerns the working independence of the commission, through the freedom from directions by the Secretary of State. This group is not interlocking with the first group and we believe that the amendments in this group should be made even if those in Schedule 1 are not. At present, the Bill gives the Secretary of State a number of powers of direction in a number of respects. The Secretary of State can direct the commission to advise on the effect of an enactment, as provided by Clause 12(3). The Secretary of State can direct the commission to carry out inquiries into specified matters relating to any of the commission’s duties under Clauses 8 to 11. That is found in Clause 17(1). The commission may also be directed by the Secretary of State, under Clause 22, to carry out an investigation or, under Clause 33, to assess the compliance of any person with the public sector duties under anti-discrimination legislation. We have no objection at all to the Secretary of State requesting the commission to do any of these things, but we believe that it is inappropriate to compel the commission to undertake work that it does not wish to do. Indeed, the commission should be free to arrange its own agenda and should not have to undertake work that it does not think appropriate. Nor should it undertake work that it believes is of a lower priority than the work it would have to set aside in order to comply with a direction. As the Joint Committee on Human Rights said in its 16th report of Session 2003–04:"““We have the gravest doubts whether it is compatible with the status of an independent national human rights institution to be subject to any form of statutory direction by Ministers regarding the initiation of its inquiries.””" Whatever the constitutional position, we believe that the commission must have full operational independence. The Bill achieves that after a series of simple amendments. Amendment No. 101 removes the power under Clause 12 for the Secretary of State to direct the commission to advise him or her on the effect of an enactment or of the likely effect of a proposed change in the law. Amendment No. 113 alters the power under Clause 17 for the Secretary of State to direct an inquiry into the power for the commission to accept or refuse a request by the Secretary of State. Amendments Nos. 115, 116 and 118 make a similar alteration to the power under Clause 22 to carry out investigations. Amendments Nos. 143 and 144 make a similar alteration to the power to assess the performance of duties of public authorities under anti-discrimination statutes. Amendments Nos. 149, 150 and 152 make consequential amendments to Schedule 2. We ask the Government to accept that the commission should have full operational independence, including the power to decide its own agenda. The commission will no doubt normally accept the request, but should not be obliged to do so. I recognise that the power to make directions is contained in existing legislation, but we think   that the increased standing and   constitutional importance of a single equality commission makes it plainly desirable that the commission should indeed have full operational independence. I beg to move.