Commentary on provisions of Act Section 37: Equal opportunities
This section amends the reservation of equal opportunities in Section L2 in Part 2 of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 to give the Scottish Parliament more competence to legislate for equalities.
	Section L2 currently reserves equal opportunities including the subject-matter of the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The references to the repealed legislation are removed. This amendment does not change the scope of the reservation.
	Subsection (3) sets out the new exceptions to the reservation. The exceptions specify that:
the Scottish Parliament may legislate about equal opportunities in relation to non-executive appointments to the boards of Scottish public authorities that have devolved functions; and
in relation to Scottish functions of Scottish or cross-border public authorities (other than board appointments), the Scottish Parliament may introduce protections and requirements that supplement but do not modify the existing provisions of the Equality Act 2010 (the 2010 Act).
	Subsection (4) includes definitions for the key terms used in subsection (3).
	Subsection (7) amends section 152(3) of the 2010 Act so that the Scottish Ministers will no longer have to obtain the consent of a Minister of the Crown before making an order to amend Part 3 of Schedule 19 to the 2010 Act. Schedule 19 lists those public authorities which are subject to the public sector equality duty.
	Subsection (8) means that the Scottish Ministers would no longer have to consult a Minister of the Crown before adding a cross-border authority to that Schedule.