§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Statement by the Home Secretary, repeated by Lord Williams of Mostyn on 24 February (H. L. Deb., col. 1159) whether they intend to introduce amendments to the Race Relations Act 1976 and Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Northern Ireland Act 1998, and the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 to make it unlawful for public authorities, in discharging their public functions, to discriminate directly or indirectly on any of the grounds of discrimination covered by that body of legislation. [HL1303]
§ Lord Williams of MostynIn his statement on 24 February on the report of the inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence, the Home Secretary announced, and I later repeated, his intention to publish a detailed response and action plan to the 70 recommendations in Sir William Macpherson's report. One recommendation was that the police service should be brought within the Race Relations Act 1976. The Home Secretary said he intended doing this and going further to extend the Act to cover all the public services. We are developing proposals to that end.
As part of that work, we shall need to consider whether any changes should be made to other pieces or legislation. No decision has yet been made. Any decision would need to bear in mind the prospect of separate legislative arrangements for Northern Ireland.