My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for this excellent debate. I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Young of Norwood Green, for his cheerful and genuine support on the Bill. I am also grateful to my noble friends Lord Gardiner of Kimble and Lady Stowell of Beeston who have been extremely supportive throughout, and to our officials who have had to endure a six-and-a-half-hour marathon. There is much to digest, and this is clearly not the point where we go into hand-to-hand combat on some of the key issues. That is for Committee, and I look forward to it.
I have been in business all my life. The Bill redresses some of the imbalances that have developed, particularly in the area of employment, and it comes as no surprise that Members who have had affiliations with the trade union movement feel strongly about these issues, which they take seriously—as indeed do we. I respect their views, but we must remember that workers have rights and, of course, so do the employers. This is what this Bill sets out to do.
The noble Baroness, Lady Ford, said that in her working life she never came across issues of health and safety. I do not think that she has been talking a lot to other business people if that is what she thinks, because to many companies the health and safety issue is becoming really strangling, as are the tribunals, the long process and the time that it takes up.