The Minister is right that there is some confusion on my part. The core of the problem seems to be his assertion that it would be possible, for what

he described as consequences of policy and procedure, for adherence to the equality duty to impinge on individual cases. That seems to suggest that he believes that a case that must be decided on merit-I am at one with him on that; the DPP must decide on merit-could somehow be weakened by adhering to the equality duty. I think that that is the Minister's suggestion, but I am still keen to find out how the merit of a case that has been decided by the DPP could be weakened if the equality duty were applied.