Equality Bill [Lords]

I am happy to give the hon. Gentleman that commitment and also to say that the discrimination law review will provide further opportunity for consultation on a wide range of issues. I am sure that the Joint Committee on Human Rights, as well as other scrutiny processes and Select Committees, will want to consider how the measures will affect the areas that they cover. Government amendment No. 14 has been tabled in response to issues raised in Committee. The amendment amends the definition of discrimination in regulation 3 of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 to make it clear that religious discrimination in the area of employment and vocational training is unlawful, even when committed against a person of the same religion as the discriminator. That is the intention, and we believe the effect, of this regulation as it stands, but the amendment resolves any doubt on the matter. We made a similar amendment, in the other place, to what is now clause 45. Having considered the case made in Committee that this now leaves an apparent inconsistency between the Bill, as amended by the Government in the other place, and the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, we have concluded that a similar clarification to those regulations would be helpful.