There are already sanctions under EU law relating to interest payments, but the transparency measures will crucially mean that we can have league tables of payment performance. The transparency in this area, alongside the public sector payment practices, will change the culture. We considered and debated in detail going further in changing contract law, but a contract is signed up to by both sides, and no practical amendment was put down to make it more binding than the existing law, which already says that 60 days should be the maximum unless both sides agree to it. Any contract, of course, has to be agreed to by both sides. It is a matter of finding a way to make this practical in law.
Part 2 deals with regulatory reform, and the Bill brings forward significant measures to reduce the burden of regulation. The small business appeals champion will ensure that small businesses’ concerns about regulators are heard. There was extensive debate in the other place on whether the Equality and Human Rights Commission should be excluded from these measures.
We have always maintained that the EHRC should not be subject to the duty to appoint a champion and had originally considered that an exemption in secondary legislation would be sufficient. Concerns were expressed, however, that this might put at risk the EHRC’s “A” status as a national human rights institution. In the light of those concerns, we agreed to eliminate this potential risk by excluding the EHRC from scope of the duty on the face of the Bill.
On the business impact target, the other place questioned the definition of voluntary and community bodies in clause 27. The Government listened to this concern and amendment 28 simplifies the definition by removing the minimum membership threshold for certain smaller unincorporated associations. It also ensures that such bodies are not excluded from the proposed definitions of small and micro businesses later in the Bill by virtue of the size of their membership. Those are relatively technical changes. The principle of a business impact target to ensure that in future Governments are transparent—as this Government have been—about the impact of their overall regulatory approach on the burdens of business was well supported, and is made clear in the Bill.
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Part 7 deals with the transparency of companies. The provisions concerning the register of people with significant
control also received close scrutiny. In the other place, ways of improving the details were suggested on all sides, and the Government listened and responded with a number of amendments. The Prime Minister made clear in October 2013 that the PSC register should be publicly accessible, and, in that spirit, Lords amendment 146 removes unnecessary restriction from those who seek access to a company’s register. It was also proposed that the public register should state clearly where information has been protected from public disclosure, and Lords amendments 143 and 150 address that proposal.
Lords amendments 156 and 157 are designed to protect investors in certain non-UK arrangements by treating them in the same way as English limited partnerships. In the other place, we committed ourselves to using the power in the Bill to increase the frequency with which PSC information is provided for the central register in 2017, about 12 months after the system goes live next year. That responds to calls for information in the central register to be more up to date, while giving companies a year in which to adjust to the new requirements. It will tie in with the transposition deadline for the EU’s fourth money laundering directive, which will shortly require all EU member states to hold “current” company beneficial ownership information in central registers. I am grateful to Members in all parts of the House for their engagement in improving those provisions.
Part 10 contains important measures to improve insolvency and reform pre-pack administrations so that they cannot be abused. In Committee, concern was expressed about creditors’ ability to call face-to-face meetings in insolvency proceedings, particularly when numerous small creditors were involved. Lords amendments 71 to 84 enable a face-to-face meeting to be requested by 10% of the total number of creditors or contributories, with an absolute threshold of 10, as well as 10% by the value of their claims.
Part 11 deals with employment. Lords amendment 87 responds to the findings of the Francis report on NHS whistleblowing. The report unveiled a culture of silence in parts of the NHS, which in some cases went right to the top. We are determined to change that. The Bill already introduces a power to impose a requirement on prescribed persons to report annually on whistleblowing concerns that they receive, but we want to go further to protect whistleblowers. The amendment will enable the Secretary of State to prohibit NHS employers from discriminating against a job applicant on the grounds that the applicant appears to have blown the whistle previously. We want a culture of openness in the NHS. We want problems that are uncovered to be dealt with, and we want our brilliant NHS staff to be supported so that they can fulfil their vocation of care.
It was suggested in the other place that cost orders should be included in the calculation of the penalty for late payment of employment tribunal awards, and that suggestion is reflected in Lords amendments 88 to 105. Lords amendments 106 to 122 ensure that the Scottish Government will have control over exit payments made by bodies within Scottish legislative and executive competence.
In the other place, the Government introduced a small but important new measure on concessionary coal. We are helping UK Coal to operate in a challenging environment. Without Lords amendment 123, we would not have the statutory power to ensure that workers at
UK Coal Kellingley and Thoresby could continue to receive concessionary coal allowances, which would be wrong. The amendment gives us the power to meet this entitlement for those miners. It is right and shows our commitment to the staff at those collieries, and I hope it gets the support of the House.
Alongside the robust examination of the Bill in the other place, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee also scrutinised the Bill. The Government have made a number of amendments in response to these recommendations, as well as a number of technical and consequential amendments on the topics of credit data, cheque clearing, finance platforms, home business, child care, the PSC—people with significant control—register and insolvency proceedings. These are set out in the explanatory notes on amendments.
In all, these amendments strengthen the Bill, the Bill will strengthen business, and strong business will strengthen Britain. The amendments before us have the full support of Government and I hope will have the support of the House.