Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Second Reading debate on this Bill and I am grateful to the Minister for his detailed explanation. I should declare my interests. I was for many years a member of the TUC General Council and a senior official in my own union, one of the founder unions of Unite. I understand that the TUC is broadly in favour of the principles behind the Bill, although it shares some of the reservations expressed by local authorities about the LBRO. First, I wish to comment on regulation generally. Many regard it as a burden on business, and much of the discussion about it focuses on the implications for economic and business efficiency. Indeed, we have had many contributions on those lines this afternoon. Those issues are important, but I regard regulation somewhat differently. Of course, it should be as simple as possible and not too bureaucratic but I also see it as a means of protecting vulnerable people. It seems to me that it is absolutely essential in a free and unrestricted market. Protective legislation is necessary, as are sanctions to ensure that it is enforced. The sanctions must be sufficiently tough to act as an effective deterrent; they must not only punish employers who break the law and others who could harm employees but show that the Government are serious about tackling non-compliance. This afternoon, my noble friend the Minister explained in some detail the package of flexible sanctions, emphasising that they are different. We shall certainly look at them with great interest. The TUC is concerned about penalties in the area of health and safety. In a way, this follows on from our debates in the previous Session on the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill. I and some of my noble friends were very much in favour of that Bill, but we thought that there should be provision for penalties with regard to senior executives who had perhaps been found responsible for the death of an employee. We wanted individuals to have to take responsibility. This was of course not acceptable at the time; the amendments that we tabled were rejected, as the Government said that that Bill was not intended to deal with individual responsibility but was about corporate responsibility. But some of us felt strongly about the issue of individual responsibility. We were, after all, talking about action or inaction that resulted in the death of an employee. I received a number of letters from families of individuals who had died in such circumstances; they were concerned about what they perceived as negligence on the part of management. We were told at the time that individuals could be dealt with under health and safety at work legislation, although we pointed out that this did not appear to happen very often. We got the impression that the Government accepted the merits of our argument but believed that the corporate manslaughter Bill was not an appropriate vehicle. I ask now whether the Bill before us is an appropriate vehicle. The TUC is disappointed that the opportunity has not been taken to increase penalties for health and safety offences through this Bill. It believes that there is a general consensus that penalties in this area are not adequate and that the Bill is a suitable vehicle to take that proposal forward. During the discussion on the corporate manslaughter Bill, we stressed that clear accountability of senior executives would ensure that adequate precautions were taken in future. As is well known, the level of industrial accidents is unacceptably high in certain industries. The construction industry has a bad reputation in this regard. Moreover, it is an industry in which there is a great deal of contract working, enabling employers to get away with lower standards. Immigrant workers, too, may not be aware of their rights regarding health and safety protection. In fact, immigrant workers are welcomed by some employers because, according to them, immigration deals with what they term ““wage inflation””—a polite way of saying that you do not have to pay them as much. It is unlikely that employers with that sort of attitude will take health and safety obligations seriously. I am glad to say that my union is recruiting extensively among immigrant workers, which will ensure that they get full employment rights. I hope that strengthening legislation and introducing penalties in this field will deal with some of these problems. In the mean time, I welcome the Bill. There will no doubt be further opportunities to explore some of these issues in Committee.