HL Deb 27 November 2000 vol 619 cc1189-91

19BA.—(1) Section 19B does not apply to—

  1. (a) any judicial act (whether done by a court, tribunal or other person); or
  2. (b) any act done on the instructions, or on behalf, of a person acting in a judicial capacity.

(2) Section 19B does not apply to any act of, or relating to, making, confirming or approving any enactment or Order in Council or any instrument made by a Minister of the Crown under an enactment.

(3) Section 19B does not apply to any act of, or relating to, making or approving arrangements, or imposing requirements or conditions, of a kind falling within section 41.

(4) Section 19B does not apply to any act of, or relating to, imposing a requirement, or giving an express authorisation, of a kind mentioned in section 19C(3) in relation to the carrying out of immigration and nationality functions.

(5) In this section—

Lord Bassam of Brighton

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 1. These amendments are consequential on discussions and deliberations held many months ago in your Lordships' House. I do not intend to take noble Lords through the meaning and significance of each individual amendment, except to say that on this occasion I am delighted with the amendments that have been considered by the Commons in their deliberations. They give effect to the agreements that were struck in your Lordships' House and they take forward considerably this important piece of legislation. They improve its quality and widen its remit. Furthermore, they give effect to many of the aspirations that have been expressed across the political divide for a modern, well-structured and well-organised body of legislation which will outlaw discrimination and tackle racism at its core.

We could spend a long time going over the detail, but I do not think that our time would be well spent in that regard. However, I should like to pay tribute to all those noble Lords who have played their part in our earlier discussions on the Bill. I thank in particular my noble friend Lady Howells of St Davids and the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, for his sterling work. In all fairness I should compliment the noble Lord, Lord Cope of Berkeley, on his role in helping us to improve the quality of the legislation. We achieved a high degree of unanimity on the moves that were necessary to improve the Bill. After all, it is the first piece of legislation in this area for well over 20 years and thus is long overdue.

We all welcome the Bill and look forward to the practical implementation of its provisions. They should make a dramatic change to the way in which good race relations are practised in our country and they will help to tackle evils such as racist xenophobia and the violent and occasionally vicious racism that we see on our streets and in our communities.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 1.—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)

Lord Cope of Berkeley

My Lords, I welcome all the government amendments to the Bill, not only those in this grouping, but also the amendments in the later groupings. As the Minister has rightly pointed out, they follow substantially arguments deliberated during our debates at earlier stages of the Bill.

Since we last saw the legislation, it has been completely rewritten. Some 21 pages of government amendments have been added to a Bill which is itself only 14 pages long. That indicates the scope of the rewrite. The Government have come to believe, I suggest substantially as a result of the debates held in your Lordships' House, that the instructions given to the draftsmen at the beginning of the Bill were mistaken. They have now been improved immensely.

Lord Dholakia

My Lords, first, perhaps I may thank the Minister from this side of the House for his comments on the Bill. I should like to thank also the Official Opposition for their help in trying to get the Bill to this stage. As the Minister rightly pointed out, this is the first major piece of race relations legislation since 1976 and is thus greatly welcome.

If we cast our minds back a little, we shall recall that a major recommendation of the Macpherson report was to look again at the provisions of the Bill which gave immunity to certain agencies in this country. With the co-operation of all sides in this House, I am delighted to say that we have been able to introduce the clause on indirect discrimination, which is to apply literally to all those bodies that had earlier been excluded. We wish the Bill every success and hope that it will foster confidence in the minorities for whom this legislation is so important.

On Question, Motion agreed to.