Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Excerpts

Wednesday 14th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton]

My Lords, I am delighted to return to the Chamber today after a long period of illness. I am even more delighted to be accompanied by my assistant. She is a new, stronger voice who will enable me to continue contributing to debates in your Lordships’ House. I thank your Lordships for your understanding and agreeing to this new and unique arrangement. This is equality in action; and it is how we achieve equality that I wish to address in this debate. I am, however, daunted by having listened to the noble Lord, Lord Lester. I admire him above all other legal experts in the field of equality and human rights. Imagine how especially daunted I am, as I am not convinced that the repeal of the general duty will enhance the Equality Act and the work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. I first declare an interest as a founder and former commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

This summer, the opening ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games provided us with spectacular and moving accounts of the values and ideals that have shaped and continue to shape Britain: that every individual should be able to achieve his or her full potential, uninhibited by prejudice or discrimination; respect for human rights and for the dignity and worth of each individual; and equality of opportunity and mutual respect. It is because we in Britain treasure these values so highly that, in 2006, we passed legislation to establish an institution to be their advocate and guardian—the commission for equality and human rights. These values are those incorporated into the commission’s general duty, which the Government intend to repeal by Clause 56.

The general duty offers not only a statement of values and mission; it also distinguishes the commission from those disinterested regulatory bodies whose purpose is confined only to promoting and enforcing compliance with legislation. Parliament invested in the EHRC the task of working towards the vision set out in its general duty by drawing on, but not being confined to, existing equality and human rights law and standards. It requires the commission to promote the values which the legislation represents, not just the legislation itself. Through doing so, Parliament also made clear the precise character and scope of the commission’s purpose and role. It was to be an agent of change, encouraging and supporting the development of a society in which these values are upheld. Parliament endowed the commission with a broad suite of hard and soft powers. Without the general duty, the EHRC would be left simply to address equality and human rights in the here and now, with no mandated direction as to what it should work towards.

Section 3 also underpins the commission’s independence. This continued independence is required if Britain is to continue to benefit from a national equality body recognised by the European Union, a national human rights institution recognised by the United Nations and an independent mechanism under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. If Section 3 is repealed, the character and scope of the commission will be fundamentally diminished and its independence placed at risk. Britain will lose a statutory champion of values which underpin modern democracy. Is that really what this House wants to endorse? Indeed, is such a fundamental change really understood by all in government? I cannot believe that this is really what our modern democracy wants from the EHRC.

The decision on whether to repeal Section 3 is, I believe, of utmost significance. For me, it is a choice between a strong independent body, committed to promoting and safeguarding British values irrespective of the Government of the day, and a much diminished and far less independent body, confined to promoting the enforcement of law. At this time of economic hardship, the British people need to take comfort from the values that bind us as a mutually supportive nation. It therefore deeply saddens and concerns me that the Government have chosen, on the occasion of a Bill designed largely to reduce red tape for business, to seek to erase fundamental values from British law. I urge the Government to reconsider this potentially harmful proposed reform and I ask your Lordships to safeguard Section 3 by keeping it where it belongs.