§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 1 July (WA 95), whether they will place in the Library of the House the response from the 16 faith groups who submitted responses on the draft Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and sought amendments to ensure that religious organisations could continue to comply with doctrinal 146WA requirements or strongly held religious beliefs of their followers.[HL5153]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleWe received over 600 responses to our consultation on the draft Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and on the draft Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. Those responses covered a range of issues, including the need for religious organisations to be able to continue to comply with doctrinal requirements or strongly held religious beliefs of their followers.
As part of the response form, respondents were asked to indicate whether they were content for their responses to be made available under the Code of Practice on Open Government. Responses from those who indicated they were willing for these to be made available publicly can be inspected at the Department of Trade and Industry. We have no plans to place any of these responses in the Libraries of the House.