My Lords, these amendments are a little more complicated. I am not sure that I understand this myself, I concede to the Minister. They address the issue of employees giving information to the Competition Commission, in this case during the course of anti-trust cases. As I understand it, Clause 33 provides, in secret price-fixing cases for example, powers to ask questions of the employees about the undertakings concerned.
By definition, the actual knowledge of price-fixing will be confined to a few relatively senior people—directors of the company or their senior managers or agents. However, it is the nature of an enterprise that people get to know these things one way or another. Sometimes, indeed, employees who themselves may be quite high up but not immediately responsible for the area get to know about it, or it could be a secretary or a clerk in the finance department, or whatever. They might volunteer the information, or at least respond once the investigators are on the case. The investigators would be using the powers within this clause, and they may get information voluntarily or from pressing a junior employee to say something that, frankly, was damaging, or would be seen as damaging, to the position of the company that had been carrying out the price-fixing, bid-rigging or whatever.
The changes proposed in my amendments would try to ensure that those employees, of whatever status, who give or volunteer information have at least as much protection as in the Employment Rights Act provisions for whistleblowers. It is therefore important that this is put beyond doubt, so this is effectively a “for the avoidance of doubt” clause. Otherwise the
investigation may itself be inhibited on the one hand because people will not come forward with information, while on the other hand it could mean that individuals are prosecuted for breach of commercial confidence or, if they have refused information, are themselves prosecuted individually, rather than the company or the senior management or directors concerned, for failure to provide that information. I accept that there may be better ways of doing this but I am anxious that such people, as well as the investigation, should be protected by some clarification here. I beg to move.