Employment Bill [HL]

Perhaps I may repeat myself for a moment. The power to copy information in Section 14(1) of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 allows officers to copy ““any material part”” of the records. Clause 10(2) amends this power to enable an officer to copy a complete record, rather than have to sift through at the initial stages of the investigation to determine what he believes will be the material part of it. We do not believe that it is right that officers who are enforcing the minimum wage should have to rely on the good will of the employer to allow records to be removed or be required to copy records at the employer’s premises. We consider that the modest changes—and they are modest—proposed in this clause will make the information-gathering process by HMRC more effective.