Socio-economic Equality Duty
Debate between Baroness Featherstone and Anne Begg(14 years ago)
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Lynne Featherstone
I agree. Delivering equality and fairness is a serious matter, and the idea that one clause would make a significant difference is wrong, particularly as it was a tick-box exercise. If it had delivered a measured outcome, I am sure we would be implementing it; as it did not, we are not.
Miss Anne Begg (Aberdeen South) (Lab)
For decades, disabled people were told that equality would come through education and changing attitudes, but it did not. It was not until the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995—an imperfect Act it was, too—that we began to see equality. The Equalities Act 2010 would have done the same for poor people, and it does them and the hon. Lady a disservice when she says that the Government will scrap this duty. That is a mistake.
Lynne Featherstone
The hon. Lady makes my point for me. Substantive legislation is extremely important; this was not substantive legislation.