Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

My Lords, I support the amendment, but I do not think it goes far enough. I shall go on to talk a...

My Lords, I wish to focus my remarks on the R-word—redress—rather more than on the regulation sid...

My Lords, the longer one has been in this House—or, indeed, in the House of Commons—the more one ...

I speak briefly and enthusiastically in support of Amendments 28ZH and 28ZJ. Other noble Lords ha...

My Lords, I certainly will not rehearse the arguments—in fact I have torn up half of what I was g...

My Lords, it may not surprise my noble friend Lord Deben that I do indeed have some speaking note...

My Lords, I recognise a Treasury reply when I see it. I should be most grateful if the noble Lord...

My Lords, we would all like to see that reply and I hope that it will be made readily available t...

Not only will I be very pleased indeed to reply to a letter that I might receive but I would be d...

The Minister will not be surprised to know that the lady is not reassured. I thank the noble Lord...

Moved by

Viscount Younger of Leckie

28ZK: After Clause 63, insert the following new C...

The Agricultural Wages Board and Agricultural Wages Committees were set up in their current form ...

My Lords, the Minister must realise that this is a bit of a controversial item. That is not surpr...

My Lords, I declare an interest as a farmer and someone who has employed farm workers over a cons...

I hesitate to interrupt the noble Lord, who is such an authority on agriculture in this House, bu...

I am inclined to agree that the figure is not accurate. I was quoting from the NFU. I am not the ...

My Lords, I always listen to the noble Lord, Lord Plumb, on matters of agriculture and, indeed, o...

I would like to take the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, back to 2000 when we had a long debate on the C...

Since we are going down this historic road with the noble Baroness, which I am delighted at, the ...

I perhaps would not agree with him because, if I can take him further along down memory lane, the...

My Lords, that was an interesting contribution from the noble Baroness, who speaks from experienc...

My Lords, when these amendments came to my attention, my first rather tongue-in-cheek reaction wa...

I am most grateful to the noble Earl for giving way. He has referred to the grade 1 rates, but he...

If I may, I shall come on to that point later. As I was saying, the board cannot set the same rat...

Can the noble Earl square his estimation that no agricultural worker will lose any pay with the G...

I am not absolutely sure why—I can only give you my case—I would want to reduce their pay at all....

I am sorry to pursue this point. The noble Earl may well be right in relation to his estate, but ...

I am sure that the noble Lord will be interested to hear what the Minister says when he winds up....

I sense that the noble Earl is coming to the close of his comments. I want to remind him that he ...

Perhaps I can help my noble friend. I am referring to grades 1 to 6: grade 6 is the farm manageme...

The noble Lord did raise a question and I did say that I would come back to it. This is all about...

My Lords, I welcome the Minister to his new role, although I feel rather sad for him that his deb...

My Lords, I declare an interest as the owner of a very small amount of agricultural land. I am al...

I would like to revisit history very briefly. As I understand it, the wages councils for every ot...

First, I do not remember whether I was still there or not because it was the year in which I move...

Is the noble Lord not aware that other employers in the industry feel very differently and find t...

I am sure that the noble Baroness would agree from her long history of trade union negotiations t...

My Lords—

I will certainly give way but—

My Lords, the noble Lord has mentioned me, and it would only be courtesy to let me—

I have made it quite clear that I will give way, but I should have a chance to finish my sentence...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way because he mentioned me as the noble Lor...

I have listened carefully to the noble Lord, as I have on other occasions, and I think that he is...

I am grateful to the noble Lord who knows my former constituency so much better than I and who in...

First, I think I did say that I could not remember whether the decision to do the wages board cam...

My Lords, I respond, as a former general secretary of the TUC, to that last remark about the trad...

My Lords, first, I apologise for missing the first part of this debate. I am afraid that I was un...

My Lords, I was a member of the Low Pay Commission when it was first established, although I did ...

My Lords, we have had an excellent debate and heard the arguments very well put on both sides. I ...

Will the noble Lord give way on that point?

I would be delighted.

First, I hope that the noble Lord will explain to the Committee that there is a distinction betwe...

I am afraid that I disagree with the noble Lord about the unique nature of agriculture. It is rig...

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way.

I am not yet a Minister.

I apologise—too many years in opposition. I take the noble Lord up on the agricultural colleges a...

I mentioned agricultural colleges because I am not aware of another sector that has a specific ne...

I am not very good at employment law; I have to be frank about that. Are you saying that my man t...

I am most grateful to the noble Earl and his helpful intervention.

Under the national minim...

Will my noble friend give way? I remind him of some of the evidence that came from the Duchy of C...

The noble Lord makes a good point. He quotes evidence and I do not need to add to it.

I cou...

I thought that it had been established that 90% of farm workers are paid above grade 2 in the sca...

The important thing to remember is that these legal entitlements for the agricultural sector appl...

My Lords, this has been a helpful and somewhat lengthy debate, which has included some passionate...

Will the Minister also be good enough to explain to the Committee why it is acceptable for the Go...

I note the point that the noble Lord is making but I was addressing purely the issues relating to...

I am grateful to the Minister for confirming that one of the reasons for the change of tack by th...

My Lords, it is not for me to say it is only that. This is an historical fact, and I was just set...

I apologise; I have been unable to follow the whole debate, as I have been sitting in the Nationa...

I note the noble Lord’s comment. I was not aware of that.

It might be for the convenience of the Committee if I remind the Committee that the Companion say...

I will move on to the issues that have been raised about the consultation period. Several noble L...

I apologise for troubling the Minister again, but would he also explain, because I think people i...

I have to say that it was news to me—I have heard it today for the first time—that there was one ...

With the greatest respect, I imagine that some of those people represented about 157,000 workers,...

If the noble Lord prefers, I can get back to him—I will, indeed, get back to him—with more detail...

With respect, it is not unusual for organisations to send notes to their members detailing change...

With respect to the noble Lord, I did not say that I was discounting them. I was just producing s...

My Lords, does that mean that the Government stand by the second impact assessment? If it does, i...

The intervention of the noble Lord allows me to move on to focus on the impact assessment. I do n...

To clarify, there is a range, but I am using a figure close to the best estimate which amounts to...

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister. I have been sitting here and slowly thinking to myself t...

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for giving way. The Chairman has already read from the guidan...

Excuse me, I was here.

Then I apologise.

Good.

I remember so well that when the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, was in government, the Burn...

I am quite happy to have another debate about hunting. I understand, however, that the Prime Mini...

I will do my best to answer the noble Lord’s question. Our figures tell us that the impact assess...

My Lords, the Minister made what I thought was a rather unnecessary remark about the fact that I ...

First, I apologise to the noble Lord. There was absolutely no derogatory comment intended.

...

There is nothing in the Agricultural Wages Board that in any way prevents a farmer from paying mo...

I think I should repeat to the noble Lord that the Agricultural Wages Board has been in existence...

The Question is that Amendment 28ZK be agreed to. As many are of that opinion will say “Content”....

Content.

To the contrary, “Not Content”.

Not Content.

My Lords, paragraph 8.103 of the Companion states:

“As divisions are not permitted in Grand...

Moved by

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara

28ZKA: Schedule 18, page 244, line 12, at end in...

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments 28ZKB, 28ZKC, 28ZKD and 28ZKE which are in my name and...

My Lords, the amendments seek to extend the role of the adjudicator introduced by Clause 63 of th...

I thank the Minister for that response. I sense within what he has said that he shares some of my...

Moved by

Viscount Younger of Leckie

28ZL: Schedule 19, page 248, line 14, at end inse...

My Lords, these amendments make minor and technical changes to the Insolvency Act 1986 and relate...

My Lords, I have listened carefully to the Minister. I find that these proposals are in keeping w...

I listened carefully to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, and I am very grateful to him for his ful...

Moved by

Viscount Younger of Leckie

28ZM: Schedule 19, page 248, line 18, at end inse...

Moved by

Lord Lucas

28A: Before Clause 65, insert the following new Clause—

“Ow...

My Lords, in moving the amendment, I wish to speak also to Amendment 28B.

Since I tabled th...

My Lords, it would be a shame not to savour the final quarter-hour of Committee today—although I ...

My Lords, I rise to resist the amendment of my noble friend Lord Lucas and to support what my nob...

My Lords, I do not wish to detain the Committee, but I wish to thank the noble Lord for his intro...

My Lords, it is fair to say that, as a Scotsman, I do not do Christmas presents after Christmas. ...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for his reply, and less grateful to my noble friends f...