Employment Bill [HL]

Surely, if my noble friend is looking for the sense of justice to which he has just referred and the fairness to which this Committee has referred, I hope that we are not expecting employers to defend their position on a matter which has not been the subject of any legal hearing or scrutiny in the pages of newspapers, providing fuel to other vested interests in society. There may be many reasons why matters come to an end in secrecy before a hearing, but those reasons do not necessarily imply guilt. My noble friend Lord Borrie says that employers could perhaps pay even more money and wrap themselves up for even more time by using even more expensive lawyers to provide them with advice at that stage. That practical advice may be to settle, the only coercion being the threat of publicity. It is naive to believe that publication would provide fairness to both sides.