Equality Bill [Lords]

I should like to speak to amendments Nos. 21 and 22, which deal with legal assistance and casework. Amendment No. 21 deals with legal assistance. At present, the Bill states:"““The Commission may assist an individual who is or may become party to legal proceedings if—””." It then lists various caveats in regard to that. My amendment would change the wording to provide that the commission"““shall consider any application for assistance from an individual and provide assistance if—””." I take the view that it would be wrong and short-sighted for the new commission not to have a duty at least to consider all applications for legal assistance that come before it. The existing commissions have that duty, and its omission in regard to the new body amounts to a breach of the no regression principle established by the Government. There is no requirement to provide legal representation in all cases; it is a discretionary power that is exercised in a limited number of strategically important cases. This is a fundamental principle of access to justice and its omission from the Bill effectively removes the right of a victim of discrimination to apply for assistance and to be assured that their application will be considered by the new body. In amendment No. 22, I want to insert casework into the operation of the new body because casework has been an important part of the role of the existing bodies, and yet at least one of them, at the end of last year, abolished its casework unit, citing the fact that it did not expect casework to continue under the new body. People can receive three different types of support from the existing commissions: legal support, which means full legal support and financial assistance; casework, which is largely a hand-holding exercise providing support and advice to people in vulnerable situations to develop their case; and information in the form of paper briefings. A commitment is needed that casework will continue under the new body. It is feared that a few will be offered legal support in high-profile cases while the rest simply receive a briefing pack after having phoned an outsourced call centre helpline. The existing staff of all the bodies and, I believe, the existing commissioners value casework highly. It is the majority of their work and leads to many small wins—not the high-profile cases with legal support that receive the most publicity—that have a real effect on people’s lives. People will be better represented if the casework continues, and I seek the Minister’s assurance that it will be an element of the continuing work under the new body.