Queen’s Speech

My Lords, this has been an excellent debate, which has ranged widely, as the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, remarked. I have learnt a lot from the contributions. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, that I am not, alas, in a position to comment on the date of the next election. However, we are very confident that our programme is good. I have no doubt that noble Lords will ensure that legislation in this House receives the considerable scrutiny that it deserves. Although some noble Lords referred to measures that they would have liked to see included in the programme, there is no question that they do not believe that what is included is important legislation. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, that my understanding is that the financial privilege question is subject to discussion in the usual channels. I support that. I will not respond directly to the interesting comments made about Scottish democracy. That is for another day. However, the debate about local democracy is very important. The noble Lord, Lord Mawson, spoke eloquently about active citizens and the role of social entrepreneurs. Of course, we aspire to joined-up government. There is no doubt that his work in Bromley-by-Bow is inspirational. We very much want to learn from his experience. I say on behalf of my noble friend that we are very keen to engage with him to learn lessons that will help to inform future policy. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Tope, that the prospect of the Government pleading their cause to local authorities to raise tax must have featured in his dreams. Of course, I understand the benefit of local democracy. I became involved in politics through becoming a local councillor in Oxford and then in Birmingham. I well understand the hugely important leadership role that local government can play. In the present difficult financial conditions, that leadership role becomes ever more important. I believe that noble Lords very much endorsed that approach. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the public look for consistency. Governments have a right to set some kind of performance framework within which local authorities will operate. We have tried to get the balance right. The various pieces of legislation that my noble friend has taken through the House in recent years indicate that considerable progress has been made in shifting power and influence from central government. I shall not list the changes that have occurred but I believe that they are a visible sign of the Government’s wish to do that. The freedoms and flexibilities review, currently linked to the comprehensive performance assessment results, when the comprehensive area assessment is introduced in April 2009, will be another opportunity for us to take forward the debate about the key partnership we want to see between central government, local government and local communities. I totally disagree with the party opposite and the noble Baroness, Lady Warsi, and the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, in their views on regional development agencies. They are simply wrong. My experience in the West Midlands with Advantage West Midlands is that RDAs play a critical role in partnership with local government, businesses and all the other key sectors in ensuring an appropriate strategy of putting together support which could not come from individual local authorities. My noble friend Lord Smith was right when he stressed that RDAs are not seeking to dictate what happens but to work in partnership with local government. The new government structure that will result from this legislation is the way to ensure that partnership approach. I noted his comments about late payments in the Audit Commission and I will ensure the commission is informed. I also noted the comments by my noble friend Lady Billingham about the fantastic story of Corby. It has been a remarkable transformation and clearly there is much that we can learn from that uplifting experience. We have had some very interesting contributions on equality. The noble Baroness, Lady Young of Hornsey, spoke of fears she has come across of what she described as ““a lowest common denominator approach”” in bringing the various pieces of legislation together in a new Act. The Government have no such intention. In many ways this is a far more ambitious and broader piece of work than simply pulling together a single piece of equality legislation because it brings together in one place all the existing, rather piecemeal elements of discrimination law. It does more than that, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, and the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, suggested. We are looking for streamlined legislation that will simplify and standardise the law as far as possible. It is our contention that simpler law should lead to simpler guidance produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and that simpler guidance should lead to better understanding. I agree with noble Lords who say that we need effective and practical legislation. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Lester, whom I enjoyed working with at the Ministry of Justice, about the need for clear, consistent standards and a regulatory framework to achieve widespread change. The noble Baroness, Lady Young, spoke of the challenges of the current economic crisis, and I endorse her point that legislation should be fit for purpose for years to come and people should be fairly treated. That is the Government’s aim. She raised the question about guidance on positive action. It will be very important that we get that right and we look to the commission to produce clear guidance, particularly on what is and is not allowed under positive action. The noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, made a notable intervention on age discrimination. The Government are committed to banning age discrimination against adults aged 18 or over in the provision of goods, facilities and services and the exercise of public functions. This is one of the areas where protection has been missing and which the equality Bill will put right. Of course that is not the end of the story; much needs to be done. The noble Baroness has done the House a great service by bringing to our attention many of the problems. Action on Elder Abuse, for instance, has detailed a number of areas where we need to see decisive action taken forward. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, is concerned that the Bill is too long. I accept that 320 clauses is a considerable length, but it will be a good deal shorter than the combined size of all nine major pieces of discrimination law that it will replace. Frankly, it will also allow your Lordships a great deal of opportunity to ensure scrutiny of those 320 clauses.