House of Commons
Second Reading
Tuesday 5 April 2005
For more information, please contact:
Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive
Tel 020 7881 9446/07949 108998
Alan Wardle, Director of Parliamentary Affairs
Tel: 020 7881 9450/ 07720 718176
46 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0EB
web: www.stonewall.org.uk
Parliamentary briefing
EQUALITY BILL
Equality Bill – House of Commons Second Reading
Stonewall warmly welcomes the Equality Bill and the proposed
establishment of a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
1) Introduction and background
The Government published Fairness For All: A New Commission for Equality
and Human Rights White Paper in May 2004, and published their response,
Fairness For All: A New Commission for Equality and Human Rights The
Government Response to Consultation, in November 2004.
The Equality Bill was published on 3 March 2005. The main purpose of the
Bill is to establish a Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), and
it defines its purpose and functions.
Stonewall welcomes the Bill not only because there is currently no statutory
framework to protect Britain's lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) population. We
also strongly believe that effective protection will best be secured for LGB
people - as for all other citizens - by a Commission that focuses on respect for
all regardless of difference, working across traditional boundaries of delivery.
Stonewall also welcomes the Government’s announcement that it will
review the existing equality legislation, with a view to passing a Single
Equality Bill to simplify and modernise our current laws.
The creation of a single equality commission will throw into harsh relief the
uneven legislative landscape that currently exists to protect and promote
equality for minority communities. A Single Equality Act – at the earliest
opportunity – makes sense. There are now 35 Acts, 52 Statutory Instruments,
13 Codes of Practice, 3 Codes of Guidance and 16 EC Directives and
Recommendations that apply to equality law.
2) Key advantages of CEHR
Stonewall believes that there are several advantages that will come from
having a joint Commission that serves all communities. These include:
Unified approach – the CEHR will be able to look at issues in an
integrated way, rather in individual “silos”. Employment discrimination,
for example, is an area where a unified approach would work. This
would enable lessons to be learned and best practice shared. There
has been a history of certain employers seeking to exclude gay people
from fair treatment, which the CEHR could tackle.

One-stop shop – the CEHR will give public clarity about where people
need to turn on equality and human rights issues. It will make it easier
for individuals to get best advice. A black woman may feel she is
unclear whether she is being unfairly treated because of her gender or
because of her race. The CEHR would be able to help in either case,
where at present she would have to deal with two commissions. It will
also make it much more straightforward for both large and small
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Equality Bill – House of Commons Second Reading
employers to get advice on best practice in the workplace.

Cross-cutting – the CEHR will allow work to be done on issues where
previously there has been little. The Fawcett Society’s recent report on
black and minority ethnic women in the UK is an effective example of
where there has been such joint working. Stonewall’s recent research
on prejudice has shown that many of the issues faced by different
minority groups have common origins. The CEHR could take a lead on
many of these.

New ways of working – the CEHR gives the opportunity to learn from
the best of the existing statutory commissions, but to recognise that
other organisations have experience that can be learned from in terms
of working to deliver effective outcomes.
3) Some concerns with the current model

Interim arrangements – it is expected that the CEHR will be
operational from late 2007. However there already exist protections
against discrimination in employment on the grounds of sexual
orientation and religion/belief. Age will get such protections in 2006.
Nevertheless, there is no statutory body providing advice and guidance
on these matters and it is still unclear how individuals are to be
supported and inaccurate guidance challenged until the CEHR is in
place.

Supporting key “customers” – it is important to support credible
provision of advice and guidance for LGB people not only by the CEHR
but by second tier information providers. Not all of the publicly funded
advice on the new employment regulations for LGB people has been
satisfactory. Also, many employers, and those in the private sector in
particular, have considerable sensitivities around developing
appropriate policies and good practice over LGB issues. The CEHR
should be able to support such organisations while also holding over
them the threat of action.

Representation and monitoring - Stonewall remains concerned that it
is proposed to recruit the Chair and Commissioners "in line with the
requirements of the Office of the Commissioner for Public
Appointments". Dame Rennie Fritchie, the current Commissioner, has
advised Stonewall in the past that she has never received any request
from government to monitor such appointments on the basis of sexual
orientation, or indeed specifically to ensure representation of LGB
figures on public bodies except in the most general sense of
representing the wider population. This absence of specific
acknowledgement of the existence of a wider LGB community
undermines confidence in other public bodies, and will undermine
confidence in the Commission.
4) The need for further statutory provisions to protect lesbian, gay and
bisexual people
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Equality Bill – House of Commons Second Reading
Stonewall welcomes the inclusion within the Equality Bill of a public duty to
promote gender equality and protection against discrimination in the provision
of goods, facilities and services on the grounds of religion and belief. However
we believe that such piecemeal approach to equalities legislation is no longer
satisfactory.
Stonewall has consistently called for measures to tackle the continuing lack of
legal protection for LGB people. Government actuaries estimate that there are
up to 3.4 million lesbian, gay and bisexual people living in Britain. They have
only had statutory protection from discrimination in employment since
December 2003. There is still no public duty to promote equality for LGB
people. LGB people still have no statutory protection from discrimination in the
provision of goods, facilities and services.
Single Equality Bill
Stonewall believes that the creation of the CEHR will show that the current
inequality in legislative provision is untenable. A Single Equality Bill,
simplifying and standardising equality legislation for all protected groups, will
bring greater clarity for individuals and employers as well as equality for those
groups who are lagging behind. There are two main areas that LGB people
are concerned about which a Single Equality Bill would rectify:a - Goods, facilities and services - Evidence of discrimination in the provision
of goods, facilities and services is widespread. Services and businesses
continue to turn away lesbian and gay customers. In June 2004, a Scottish
guest-house owner refused to allow two gay men to stay. This case was
unusual only for being highly-publicised.
LGB people are routinely refused goods and services in the private sector by
insurance companies, holiday companies or hotels. This validates wider
discrimination against them.
b - Public duty to promote equality - Lesbians and gay men also routinely
receive "second class" services in areas of the public sector such as
healthcare provision and policing. Stonewall Scotland's Inclusion Project
confirmed widespread inappropriate service delivery within the NHS, a
position we believe is reflected across the UK. In terms of policing, recent
statistics show that the number of homophobic attacks is on the increase.
Many LGB people still feel uncomfortable reporting crimes to the police which
relate to their sexual orientation due to fears of not being believed or even
being ridiculed.
A public duty would ensure that all public bodies, including health services
and police forces, would have to ensure that their services met the needs of,
amongst others, their LGB service users.
5) Conclusion
Stonewall urges you to support the Equality Bill and the establishment of the
Commission for Equality and Human Rights to help ensure that all citizens are
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Equality Bill – House of Commons Second Reading
able to play a full role in every aspect of our society, free from discrimination.
We also look forward to a Single Equality Bill at the earliest opportunity.
The experience of other communities during the last 30 years has clearly
demonstrated that statutory "flagships" to champion equality for women,
minority ethnic or disabled people can accelerate the delivery of fair treatment
and advancement towards equal citizenship.
Given the likelihood that the Equality Bill may not complete its Parliamentary
passage before a general election, Stonewall very much hopes that the Bill
will be reintroduced as soon as possible in the next Parliament, and we
strongly urge you to support it.
Stonewall
March 2005
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