As I write this I’m listening to the debate in Parliament on the second reading of the Equality Bill. Although the Conservatives support parts of the Bill they will vote against it tonight.
As I suspected, most of the debate so far is focussed on public sector duties and gender pay gap issues. No-one is grappling with the real detail – we will have to wait for the committee stage for that.
One issue that has come up is the issue of caste discrimination. When asked about it, Harriet Harman suggested that it was already unlawful. It isn’t as far as I am aware. Caste is not the same thing as race or ethnic origin and if an employer bases a choice between two employees of the same ethnic origin based on their caste then that is not, it seems to me, to be discrimination. Perhaps this is an issue that the Government will be prepared to move on.
Harriet Harman also claimed that the Bill outlaws discrimination against carers. I can’t find this provision anywhere. It outlaws discrimination because of the protected characteristic of someone they associate with, but that is not the same thing as treating someone less favourably because they have caring responsibilities. Could this be something for further development as the Bill progresses?
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