Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill

It is worth reflecting on the debate yesterday. The Minister for Business and Enterprise, who is ...

My hon. Friend makes some very good points, but does he not think that we restrict ourselves in o...

I am grateful for the intervention from my hon. Friend. Pay is a only a small element in the work...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, but will he also mention local enterprise partnersh...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. There are many agencies dealing directly with businesses, part...

Would these changes have an impact on people working in the informal economy who are not paid the...

Absolutely. We see in the informal economy forced self-employment, bogus self-employment and peop...

Before my hon. Friend moves on, may I commiserate with him about last night’s football result? On...

I appreciate what my hon. Friend says about what happens in his constituency. Public bodies could...

My hon. Friend is no doubt aware that even the Treasury has admitted in statistical analysis that...

That is the way the tax system works. People are allocated their national insurance and tax thres...

Does the shadow Minister accept that the tax take is possibly down by a lot because of the increa...

The hon. Gentleman misses the point. If he was in his place earlier—I have no reason to doubt tha...

This Government have made much of increasing the personal allowance, as some of us advocated many...

There is a key balance in terms of raising the allowance. The poorest paid are not affected by an...

One of the pernicious elements of this situation is what we are starting to see in my constituenc...

Absolutely. We are creeping into the wider problems with the employment market. There is a huge i...

It is certainly an issue in the construction sector in my constituency, but it is now spreading i...

It is most prevalent in the construction sector, but it affects other low-paid sectors as well. T...

Is that the best you can do?

I haven’t finished yet—just you wait!

Let me go through why not being able to enforce these...

When I used to deal with what were then known as industrial tribunals, I understood that someone ...

That is part of the problem of enforcement, in that we do not know what mechanisms could be used ...

I shall speak to the amendments, but this debate is about zero-hours contracts, and it is interes...

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the most grotesque manifestations of the way in which such ...

I absolutely agree that such methods are used to manage the process, and they might make it look ...

The hon. Lady is making a passionate speech. I agree that there are a lot of anomalies in the car...

That allegation is made frequently. In the years up to 2007 when I was a local councillor, I did ...

In my constituency—I am sure the same is true of my hon. Friend’s constituency—the words “zero-ho...

I agree with my hon. Friend.

The hon. Member for Burnley (Gordon Birtwistle) seems to belie...

My hon. Friend is quite right. This has become a huge problem in the past four and a half years, ...

I thank my hon. Friend for his pertinent intervention.

Does my hon. Friend know whether the hon. Member for Burnley (Gordon Birtwistle) was the Parliame...

I do not think that there is any need to add to that observation.

When people work on a reg...

Does the hon. Lady accept that there could be circumstances in which amendment 10 would affect an...

I cannot see any reason why somebody should not have a seasonal, fixed-term contract for a partic...

My hon. Friend is making an important point about the retention of skills and the need to develop...

That is an important point, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South said, one reason...

My hon. Friend is making the important point that Britain’s productivity is poor and is not helpe...

And of course that feeds directly into the fact that the Government’s deficit is rising again in ...

I understand and appreciate the hon. Lady’s argument, which she is making with passion, as she re...

I am sure that some people would like the Opposition to table amendments to abolish zero-hours co...

This is not just about zero-hours contracts. Under the amendments, an employee would be entitled ...

That is an important comment, and it illustrates again the importance of giving people protection...

The fundamental point is about choice, which the hon. Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley) touc...

My hon. Friend echoes the point that I was seeking to make. If there were equality of arms and pe...

In evidence to the Committee, Sarah Veale from the TUC said that there is a significant differenc...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the impact of people being subjected to zero-hours contracts inhib...

That is exactly my point, and I will be developing it during my speech. The lack of certainty lea...

Proposed new section 6A(c) in amendment 8 states

“changes in provisions relating to the nat...

That is absolutely right, and as evidence from the TUC that I mentioned earlier made clear, where...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way to have collective bargaining on site is to pay subsc...

My hon. Friend raises an incredibly important point and is absolutely right to raise it in the co...

My hon. Friend referred to the Government policy of name and shame, which I understand has been a...

My hon. Friend must have been reading my speech, because I was about to make exactly that point. ...

Even if they were paid the minimum wage, working for three hours a week does not, in any shape or...

We should undoubtedly do everything we can to encourage employers to pay a much higher rate. The ...

I am talking not so much about the living wage or the minimum wage as the number of hours people ...

My hon. Friend rightly brings me back to zero-hours contracts and the problems and difficulties t...

indicated dissent.

The Minister shakes her head. Is she telling me that I am wrong when I say that the people who us...

I am not telling him that his constituents are not being truthful in relation to their circumstan...

I am glad the Minister has made that point. The reality is that those who used to work for HMRC w...

My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. As he will agree, the fact that unemployment ...

The economic indicators tell the story. Whatever the Government are doing and whatever is happeni...

I apologise for arriving halfway through the Front-Bench spokesman’s introduction and for having ...

I shall focus most of my remarks on the debate about the national minimum wage and zero-hours con...

I wanted the Minister to pause for a second on this issue, because it is important to recognise t...

My hon. Friend makes an important point. This is a basic issue of fairness as well as value for m...

The Minister is always incredibly generous in giving way. She has explained how the reports go to...

The evidence submitted in the reports is pretty comprehensive, so I think it does meet the requir...

I am pleased that the Minister has given us those figures, but if so many people are involved, wh...

So far 30 employers have been named and shamed, and, as I said in Committee, there will be a furt...

The Minister will recall that, in Committee, I raised the issue of umbrella companies, in which p...

The enforcement team can look into any breach of the national minimum wage, and it can enforce no...

I do not remember whether the Minister gave these figures in Committee, but she said a few moment...

I think that the hon. Gentleman is comparing apples with oranges. According to the most recent es...

Does the Minister think that the significant increase in the number of zero-hours contracts over ...

It certainly is a sign of a flexible employment market, which is good for the UK economy. It ensu...

If the Minister thinks that there is no problem with zero-hours contracts, can she explain why th...

Various issues affect the tax take and employment, not least the amounts that people are earning,...

I am grateful to the Minister for answering some of the questions but, on amendment 8, it is not ...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I would like to start by thanking ...

Will the Minister tell the House how he can enforce the provisions on exclusivity clauses?

Thanks to the Bill, exclusivity clauses will no longer be valid; they will be null and void. The ...

The Minister has not said how he is going to enforce this. How will it be enforced—will he answer...

As I said, not only will any exclusivity clause be null and void, but we are consulting on those ...

The Minister is trumpeting getting rid of the exclusivity clauses as being a marvellous thing, bu...

The heart of the problem is that for 13 years the Labour party, having promised to do something a...

I recognise the importance of the initiatives set out in part 8. Does the Minister recognise that...

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. Improving transparency internationally is important in ensu...

I am sure the Minister has covered this before, but it is worth saying again that one big problem...

The hon. Gentleman is dead right about that and he anticipates my next paragraph. We have also st...

Is the Minister not being a little disingenuous to suggest that the Government have listened to w...

No. As the hon. Gentleman knows, no amendments were moved yesterday on family brewers. We will re...

The Minister says he is going to reflect on the vote, with the will of the House being the market...

As I have said, the House has made its position clear and we will reflect on that vote ahead of c...

I echo the Minister’s thanks to everyone who has contributed to the surprising and interesting pa...

I am sure my hon. Friend will agree that the test of this Bill will be in its implementation. We ...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. He is absolutely right. Let me take this opportunity to ...

I thank my hon. Friend for paying such a compliment to Coventry. In the last recession, during th...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to trumpet the manufacturing excellence of his city and Jaguar...

Interestingly, when Coventry city council joined with the university of Warwick to set up a busin...

I could not agree more. That is an example of how Government and industry can work together to bu...

Surely the hon. Gentleman agrees that the advances in apprenticeships and high-tech skills that t...

I accept that some progress has been made. There was a real rebirth in apprenticeships over the s...

The hon. Gentleman talked about the need to tackle the problem of low-wage jobs. Today’s report b...

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I am glad that Members can cite important statistics...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

Order. Before the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins) considers giving way, I must point ...

Of course I take your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I shall attempt to crack on but, as we ...

rose—

I shall give way in a moment.

Indeed, the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr Djanogly) tabled a...

rose—

I can see you, but I am saying something at the moment. The hon. Member for Huntingdon wished to ...

Order. This is not the moment for discussing the programme order. We have very little time left i...

I think that that rather makes my point, Madam Deputy Speaker.

At the start of the Bill’s p...

You are an embarrassment.

Frankly, the right hon. Gentleman is the one who ought to be a bit embarrassed.

Let me cont...

On a slightly different note, I wanted to raise one factor that was highlighted to me. There has ...

Order. That is not a point for Third Reading. I asked the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perk...

My hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop) was making ...

I declare my interests as they appear in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

On S...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case and I very much agree with him. Is it not significant th...

That may be the case, but it has not been said in public.

There is a hint in the impact ass...

Given that there will be no winding-up speeches in this debate, I would like to say for the recor...

I am very pleased indeed to hear that confirmation from the Minister. I look forward to having fu...

The Bill has the words “Small Business” firmly in the title, but the measures it introduces also ...

Order. I asked the hon. Gentleman to be brief. I trust that he will listen to the Chair.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I made that point because the Bill was an opportunity to tackle ...

In the short time remaining I will make only a few points and post the rest of my speech online. ...