Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill

My Lords, first, happy new year to everybody. At Second Reading, the general tone that came from ...

My Lords, I take issue with these amendments. What we do not need is another report into the prob...

My Lords, Amendment 1 asks that we report on the long-term needs of small and medium-sized busine...

Does this website cover the plethora of information sources which the noble Baroness has spent th...

I thank the noble Lord for his helpful intervention. Indeed, like him, I feel that we need greate...

My Lords, I first declare an interest as chairman of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association...

Before we move on, I thank the Minister for her response so far. Within the Bill there is this ta...

I must thank everybody, particularly the Minister, for her reply. Of course, this is a probing am...

Moved by

Lord Mitchell

2: Clause 1, page 1, line 10, leave out paragraph (c)

My Lords, I must declare, as I did at Second Reading, that I am the chairman and a shareholder of...

My Lords, I was glad to hear of the experiences of the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, and his success...

I thank the noble Baroness for her reply. Of course, this report will come before the Report stag...

Moved by

Lord Mendelsohn

3: Clause 3, page 3, line 40, leave out “may” and insert “sh...

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments 4, 6, 7, 10 and 11.

We are concerned with the ef...

My Lords, Amendment 5, and its sister Amendment 25, have been tabled on the back of some excellen...

My Lords, I wish briefly to comment on the amendments, particularly following the comments of my ...

My Lords, I recognise that late payment has been one of the most stubborn problems affecting smal...

My Lords, I should declare an interest as president of the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Gr...

Before the Minister replies, I will just follow on from what the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, said. ...

My Lords, I think that the whole issue of late payments is to do with the business culture that e...

My Lords, I agree with an important element of what the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, has just said ...

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their amendments and for providing the opportunity for us to de...

My Lords, I am encouraged that these amendments have triggered a long and very useful debate on l...

Moved by

Lord Flight

5: Clause 3, page 4, line 14, at end insert—

“( ) it quali...

My Lords, I am not quite clear what the Minister was actually offering here, but I should stress ...

My Lords, I have already responded to my noble friend Lord Flight. This matter will be discussed ...

That is not entirely satisfactory but let us wait for further discussions. I beg leave to withdra...

Moved by

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

8: Clause 3, page 4, line 40, at end insert—

“(...

My Lords, this group of amendments makes a number of consequential and technical changes to the p...

My Lords, I thank the Minister for explaining these government amendments so clearly. She will be...

My Lords, it used to be thought that it was only on the opposition side that concern about long w...

My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords for their support for the government amendments. The regul...

Moved by

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara

12: After Clause 3, insert the following new Cla...

My Lords, I rise to move Amendment 12, which is in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Mende...

I support the amendment and my noble friend. In 2002, I was the chair of a Select Committee that ...

My Lords, I support my noble friends in this amendment. My experience is really only in the const...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for Amendment 12 on the important matter of retention payments a...

The Minister made the point that, as the main customer, the Government have started a number of p...

My Lords, one of the pleasures of this Bill is that I already deal with eight government departme...

I thank the Minister for her response, although I am a bit disappointed by her willingness to tak...

Moved by

Lord Mitchell

13: Clause 4, page 5, line 8, at end insert—

“(c) a duty...

My Lords, 2015 got off to a cracking start for me. On 1 January, my football team, Tottenham Hots...

My Lords, as a Leeds United supporter, I begin by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, o...

My Lords, the noble Lord mentioned the whole question of the security of data sharing. I should j...

The important thing is that information which a company has and which might be shared is shared o...

My Lords, I just wish to raise a slight qualm that I have on this issue. I applaud the idea of da...

I think, my Lords, that that concern is dealt with by the fact that approval or agreement that da...

I should like to respond to the Minister by thanking him for his support on the subject of payday...

Moved by

Lord Newby

16: Clause 4, page 5, line 37, after “to” insert “include an appr...

My Lords, these amendments make a number of technical changes to Clauses 4, 6 and 7 to ensure tha...

My Lords, the Opposition are happy to accept the great majority of what has been produced in this...

Moved by

Lord Leigh of Hurley

18A: Clause 5, page 6, line 43, at end insert—

“i...

My Lords, as disclosed on the register of interests, I declare that I am a senior partner at Cave...

My Lords, we have a few amendments in this group and I will speak to just a couple of them. Two o...

My Lords, as I have already pointed out, Amendment 25 really goes with Amendment 5. Very simply, ...

My Lords, I begin by repeating that the Government are completely committed to ensuring that SMEs...

My Lords, I understand the logic of what the noble Lord is saying and the rationale for what the ...

Going to the CRA is the logical first port of call, is it not? We are talking about cases here wh...

I thank my noble friend the Minister. I hear what he says but I would make the point that, as the...

Moved by

Lord Newby

20: Clause 6, page 8, line 24, after “(a)” insert “or (4)(b)”

Moved by

Lord Newby

22: Clause 6, page 9, line 1, leave out from beginning to “5” in ...

Moved by

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

27: Clause 7, page 9, line 29, leave out “, or” and i...

Moved by

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara

30: Clause 10, page 12, line 4, leave out “negat...

Moved by

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara

31: Clause 11, page 12, line 17, at end insert—<...

My Lords, in moving Amendment 31, I will also speak to Amendment 32. Together, they relate to UKT...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for setting out his thinking on these amendments. I sha...

I thank the Minister for her very expansive response. I appreciate the effort that went into it. ...