I was at a reception on the evening of Monday 28 April hosted by the Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP to celebrate the introduction of the new Equality Bill into the House of Commons.
Amongst her other government offices, Harriet Harman is Minister for Women and Equality. Together with Maria Eagle MP and Vera Baird QC MP, Solicitor General, she has steered the complex processes that have brought the Equality Bill to the beginning of its passage through Parliament.
Reception guests included representatives of Government departments, including the Government Equalities Office and the Attorney General (the lovely Baroness Scotland, on whose equality advisory group I serve), the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), parliamentarians, unions, employers organizations, and equalities NGOs.
I was there as chair of the Religion and Belief Consultative Group on Equality, Diversity and Human Rights, on which I represent the Baha’i community, and as a member of the Government Equalities Office Senior Stakeholder Group.
Have a copy of the Bill…
Trevor Phillips, Chair of the EHRC, opened the speeches by welcoming the Bill and then handed on to Harriet, who expressed her excitement that the Bill had got this far and thanked her ministerial colleagues, the Government Equalities Office and those present for their work and support in bringing the Bill this far.
She then presented autographed copies of the Bill to leading individuals from a number of organizations representing the equality strands (or “protected characteristics” as the Bill labels them) such as race, disability, gender, sexual preference, age, and religion and belief.
So I was the chosen recipient of a Harriet Harman autographed copy of the Bill on behalf of the religion and belief “protected characteristic”.
11 major provisions
The Bill sets out to strengthen British equality law by:
- Introducing a new public sector duty to consider reducing socio-economic inequalities;
- Putting a new Equality Duty on public bodies;
- Using public procurement to improve equality;
- Banning age discrimination outside the workplace;
- Introducing gender pay reports;
- Extending the scope to use positive action;
- Strengthening the powers of employment tribunals;
- Protecting carers from discrimination;
- Offering new mothers stronger protection when breastfeeding;
- Banning discrimination in private clubs; and
- Strengthening protection from discrimination for disabled people.
Equality Bill and the Baha’i Faith
As I went home on the train from the reception I thumbed through the copy of the Equality Bill I had been given by Harriet Harman. As I did so, I was pleased to see the Baha’i Faith listed in the explanatory notes (along with the other eight major religions of the UK) to the Bill’s definition of religion and belief as an example of what will count as a religion for the purposes of Section 10 of the Bill.
10 Religion or Belief
(1) Religion means any religion and a reference to religion includes a reference to a lack of religion.
(2) Belief means any religious or philosophical belief and a reference to belief includes a reference to a lack of belief.
(3) In relation to the protected characteristic of religion or belief -
(a) a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a person of a particular religion or belief;
(b) a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to persons who are of the same religion or belief
Whew!
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Equality Bill, Harriet Harman, Vera Baird, Patricia Scotland, Minister for Women, Government Equalities Office, Equality and Human Rights Commission, parliament, religion and belief
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