Employment Bill [HL]

My Lords, there is fairly general agreement on and support for this Bill—apart from the previous speaker’s trenchant remarks—although of course some concerns have been raised. It was particularly encouraging to hear the Minister say that it will lighten the regulatory burden on business and to hear talk of the saving of millions of pounds for business. There are encouraging signs, but as always I am sure that the Minister will forgive me if I say that we wish to wait and see. I hope that it will be so, since on these Benches we see this as only a start—one of many in the past—of reducing burdens. As my colleague my noble friend Lord Razzall said, more could have been done even now in a number of areas of the Bill. At this point, I repeat the call that we have made here and in the other place frequently, and which we will continue to make, for effective regulatory impact assessments. My colleague also spoke about the possibility, among others, of a fair employment commission. We on these Benches feel strongly about the need for consolidation, this being the 29th piece of legislation, so there is still much to be done. It was welcome to hear the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, robustly agree with us on that point—as of course did the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox. The point was well made by my noble friend Lord Razzall that those on the Conservative Benches must tread with care—as they do—since it has frequently not been clear whether they have been for or against many employment regulation Bills that have helped the workforce enormously. I can attest to that having scrutinised many Bills while I was in the other place—particularly on the national minimum wage legislation. I can tell the noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn, that the Conservatives do not always squeak. They certainly did not squeak when we debated the National Minimum Wage Act; they were robustly, loudly, vociferously and at length against the national minimum wage, as I can attest by the Committee sitting we had that went on for 24 hours. I note that the Minister nods. We very much supported the national minimum wage and I am glad that the Conservatives have finally seen the light. We have always supported the national minimum wage. Indeed, even at this stage, we are still somewhat concerned about young people getting a fairer rate than they do now. But it is welcome that the Bill will strengthen its implementation and introduce strong penalties. On workplace dispute resolution, many noble Lords have raised points, which we welcome having the opportunity to discuss in Committee. The matter of the definition of people’s status has been referred to, whether employed or self-employed. I am sure that the Minister will recollect IR35 when status seemed to be decided by the tax authorities. I turn to Clause 17, about which my noble friend Lord Lester and others have expressed concern. As he said, the clause gives broad powers to trade unions with no safeguards against abuse of those powers. I join my noble friend in paying tribute to trade unions and their work. He said that there is concern about the words ““mainstream political parties””. My colleague addressed various points with clarity and in great detail, and raised the issue of adopting option B as opposed to option A. I hope that the Minister will make a positive response to that point. In conclusion, there are many other issues that we are looking forward to debating in Committee. We on these Benches broadly support the Bill in the hope that it will reduce the burden on employers, increase fairness for all—especially for employees who have been and are unfairly treated by rogue employers over the minimum wage, or at least the lack of its implementation.