Employment Bill [HL]

I assure the noble Lord and my noble friend that I will get back to them both with details of exactly which provision we are talking about. The more difficult issue is that at the moment we considering amending domestic legislation to achieve compatibility with European legislation and, at the same time, confusingly—this might be my ignorant interpretation—we are trying to deal with domestic legislation in the Race Relations Act applying to another piece of domestic legislation, the National Minimum Wage Act, under the umbrella of European law. That is how I see it, but I might be wrong. That consultation is taking place as we speak, and if my noble friend Lord Wedderburn joins in as well, perhaps I shall learn more about it and that can be shared. Perhaps I can close by bringing the matter together. We have three competing issues. One is that the Government have worked so hard to get this great maritime nation flagged up again—to get a critical mass of UK-flagged shipping—achieved mainly by a more benevolent fiscal environment. It is absolutely right and proper that the values that have pertained in this country for so long now apply so that those benefits can also be shared to ensure fairness for those who work under those flags. That is right and I say to my noble friends who have raised that point on this amendment that there is work to be done to satisfy that wish. Secondly, we have the issue where the National Minimum Wage Act was never designed to deal with someone who is not and has no intention of being operational in the United Kingdom or in territorial or inland waters, as defined. Within that it is very important to deal with this clear conflict between someone working on a ferry to Orkney and someone working on a ferry to Shetland. I undertake to do some work on that and return to your Lordships. Thirdly, if this amendment goes through, how on earth will we actually apply this legislation to a foreign-flag ship, employing a completely foreign-flag crew and spending two days in Felixstowe five times a year? Whether that is fair is one issue; whether that is enforceable is debatable; and whether we can actually then get the owner up before the beak to ensure that he pays correctly, frankly, is probably impossible.