Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 16 October, whether the Equality and Human Rights Commission has the power to enforce the Equality Act 2010 in the civil courts where it considers the law has been breached.

The enforcement powers of the Equality and Human Rights Commission are set out in sections 20 to 32 of the Equality Act 2006, as amended by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. The Commission can investigate an unlawful act (section 20); issue an unlawful act notice (section 21); apply to a court for an action plan from a person served with an unlawful act notice (section 22); seek an injunction where necessary (section 24); provide legal assistance to an individual who is or may become party to legal proceedings (section 28); initiate or intervene in judicial review proceedings (section 30); and issue a compliance notice where it thinks that a public authority has failed to comply with the public sector equality duty (section 32).