Employment Bill [HL]

I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in the debate—the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, my noble friend Lord Watson in particular, and, indeed, the Minister. When I saw it in print, I realised that there was something terribly wrong with the drafting: to have put three months instead of 42 days was ridiculous. The Minister has done a great job in destroying the drafting of the amendment, so all I can do is rely on its spirit. First, I am very glad to hear that the Government are doing further research. When they do it, perhaps I may ask them to pay heed to what Citizens Advice has come up with, because it is not talking without evidence; it is talking about citizens advice bureaux throughout the country. One passage that I read, which, alas, I have sent to Hansard, spoke of the citizens advice bureaux throughout England and Wales finding that this is a terrible problem. Unpaid awards by what Citizens Advice calls ““rogue employers”” is certainly something that we must deal with. Therefore, the spirit of my amendment, which we will look at again on Report from the root upwards, is that we welcome the Government’s further research, just as we welcomed paragraph 43 of Schedule 8 to the 2007 Act, and we hope that the question of unpaid awards can be addressed directly out of that research and that some improvement can be made in the very near future. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 8 [Arrears payable in cases of non-compliance]: