Employment Bill [Lords]

I will, of course, be happy to meet my right hon. Friend and my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), and to have those further discussions. The Bill's provisions on dispute resolution stem from Michael Gibbons's independent review of dispute resolution in the workplace, published last year. The provisions will lighten the burden on workers and business by encouraging the resolution of more workplace disputes earlier and informally. The tribunal route provides important access to justice and it must be available. However, if we can resolve disputes sooner than we would through a tribunal, that will often be better for all concerned. The Bill makes changes that will enable us to move away from the current, rigid legal process for resolving disputes, which, as Michael Gibbons found, has led to more claims being taken to employment tribunals than may have been necessary. We are putting in place a package that encourages employers and employees to resolve their issues earlier and informally. As I said earlier, we are expanding ACAS's role in that area and we have allocated additional funds to ACAS so that it can fulfil its expanded role. The package includes statutory changes, revision of the ACAS code on disciplinary grievance procedures, and substantial investment to improve advice to employees. We estimate that, once in force and fully operational, the measures could save business up to £170 million a year. The Bill introduces a new enforcement framework for the national minimum wage, involving the introduction of a new civil penalty that can be levied against all non-compliant businesses. The framework also introduces a fairer method of calculating arrears. Until now, an employee who was paid less than the minimum wage over a number of years would lose out on the uprating of the minimum wage even if the arrears were restored. The Bill changes that; it makes non-payment of the minimum wage act, in effect, as an interest-free loan from the employee to the employer and introduces a fairer system of arrears by making sure that they are paid at the prevailing national minimum wage rate.