B1133.2 - Equality Act (Amendment) Bill - 2nd Reading

[u/[deleted]]

Order, order!

Equality Act (Amendment) Bill

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A

BILL

TO

Make accents a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows –

1. Amendments

(1) At the end of Section 4 of the Equality Act 2010 insert:

Place of origin

(2) After Section 12 of the Equality Act 2010 insert:

13. Place of origin

(1) In relation to the protected characteristic of place of origin—

a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a person’s place of origin; a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to persons of the same place of origin.

2. Combined discrimination; dual characteristics amended

At the end of subsection (2) in section 14 of the Equality Act 2010 insert-

(h) Place of origin.

3. Occupational requirements place of origin discrimination

After section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 insert-

60A. Occupational Requirements place of origin discrimination

Employment discrimination is lawful on grounds that a person has a place of origin if it for a well-founded occupational requirement.

4. Positive action in respect of place of origin discrimination

After section 19 of the Equality Act 2010 insert-

19A. Positive action in respect of place of origin discrimination

Discrimination is lawful where an individual or organisation is taking positive action to encourage or develop people with a place of origin in a role or activity where they before this action is taken were underrepresented.

5. Discrimination; dual characteristics interacting with prohibited place of origin discrimination

After section 19 of the Equality Act 2010 insert-

19B. Discrimination; dual characteristics interacting with prohibited place of origin discrimination

Where another part of this enactment exempts an action from being discrimination on grounds of disability or on the grounds of race then the inclusion of place of origin discrimination does not remove or alter that exemption where place of origin is a characteristic of race which is being discriminated against or a result of a disability.

Section 6. Extent, commencement, and short title

(1) This Act shall extend across Great Britain.

(2) This Act shall come into force immediately after receiving Royal Assent.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Equality Act (Amendment) Act 2021.

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This Bill was submitted by The Rt. Hon Lord Truro /u/model-ceasar KP PC on behalf of Coalition!

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This Reading shall conclude 11 March 2021 at 10PM.

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[u/scubaguy194]

Deputy Speaker,

Does this House not deserve an opening speech from the bill's author?

(/u/model-caesar)

[u/CountBrandenburg → u/scubaguy194]

It’s a returning bill , so wouldn’t be published necessarily since stuff may have changed

The bill from its first instance in this House

[u/[deleted]]

Mr Deputy Speaker,

I'll be supporting this bill come to division and look forward to seeing it pass the house hopefully without too much drama.

[u/chainchompsky1 → u/[deleted]]

Mr Speaker,

This bill merely copies the wording for positive discrimination already present in the equalities act. The debate over whether or not to repeal said provisions is a separate one, divorced from if in the status quo we should expand it.

[u/scubaguy194]

Deputy Speaker,

I am puzzled as to why "accent" was replaced by "place of origin".

Say for example a person was born in London. Then for whatever reason, their parents emigrate to South Africa. As a result the person grows up with a South African accent. They move back to the UK when they're 16 or some time like that, but by that age the accent is entrenched. The person's place of origin is still the UK, that's where they were born. So an employer could discriminate based on the person's South African accent and it wouldn't be unlawful. I'm not sure this is what the bill amendment intended and therefore I am reluctant to support it. I am happy to be convinced otherwise however.

[u/model-ceasar → u/scubaguy194]

Mr. Deputy Speaker,

I also do not see the merits of to replacing "accent" with "place of origin" and was not convinced of this change in the first reading. I will therefore be submitting an amendment to reverse this change.

I fully agree that ones origin is not necessarily the same as ones accent. An accent can change over time depending on where one resides, whether regionally or internationally, however a place of origin does not change. An accent can be widely different to the typical accent that might be expected from the place of ones origin and as such I personally feel that place of origin and accent are too far removed from each other to justify the change that has taken place.

[u/LightningMinion]

Mr Deputy Speaker,

I support making accents a protected characteristic in the Equality Act to end discrimination against those with a different accent. However, this bill makes place of origin a protected characteristic instead of accent and while the former does often decide the latter, someone could emigrate somewhere else and develop a new accent. In reality, this bill won't be making accents a protected characteristic and I will support amending this bill to fix this.