Scotland Bill, House of Lords, Report Stage
24 February 2016
The Commission want to ensure that changes to the devolution settlement made through the Scotland Bill continue to protect and promote equality and human rights coherently across Britain, and provide clarity and certainty about the extent of the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament in relation to equality and human rights.
In this briefing, we set out our support for the following Amendments:
- Amendment 29, which would clarify that in giving the Scottish Parliament legislative competence in respect of equality of opportunity in relation to the Scottish functions of Scottish and cross-border public authorities, including non-executive appointments to public boards, the Bill would not permit the Scottish Parliament to make any modification to the Equality Act 2010 that does not enhance the protection and promotion of equal opportunities.
- Amendments 31 and 34, which would give the Scottish Parliament legislative competence in respect of provisions to encourage diversity among election candidates and requirements on political parties to publish diversity information in relation to Scottish elections.
- Amendment 32, which would give the Scottish Parliament legislative competence in respect of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).
- Amendment 33, which would remove an interpretation provision for the term “protected characteristic”. As drafted, Clause 35 would limit the ability of the Scottish Parliament to encourage diversity on public boards in relation to any protected characteristics not within the present meaning of “protected characteristic” in the Equality Act 2010.
The full briefing can be found here
Last Updated: 24 Feb 2016