Equality Bill [Lords]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones) for raising the issue and I pay tribute to the long-standing work that she has done. Like the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell), I, too, have two constituents who have come to me with issues surrounding transsexuality and transgender. One of them mentioned on many occasions the work that my hon. Friend had done, and for which we are all very grateful. As I said in Committee, I want to stress that the Government support the intention underpinning the new clause, and to make it absolutely clear that we are committed to ensuring that transsexual people are protected against discrimination in the areas of goods, facilities and services. Work is already under way, within the context of the discrimination law review, to ensure that transsexual people gain the legal protection that we all agree should be available. That builds on the rights that the Government have already ensured for transsexual people through the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which several hon. Members have already mentioned. It has been argued that because the Bill contains an order-making power to extend protection against discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation, we should bring forward regulations to protect transsexual people. Indeed, as my hon. Friend said, her new clause mirrors the provisions in clause 81. We are not persuaded, however, that legislating now to bring in a power to introduce the regulations that my hon. Friend is seeking is the right approach. The circumstances are far from identical. In many cases, discrimination issues facing transsexual people are not the same as those facing gay men and lesbians. We need to understand them properly before we legislate. I was very pleased to hear today—as I always am—the commitment of many Members to issues of equality, but I must reiterate to them, as I did on Second Reading, that the Bill was never designed to cover all equality issues. I fully understand the frustration felt by hon. Members because it takes time to achieve what we are setting out to do, but the discrimination law review is the mechanism that we have put in place to ensure that we have a proper approach. That will lead to a single equality Bill in the lifetime of this Parliament, which is our manifesto commitment.