Employment Act 2002 (Amendment of Schedules 3, 4 and 5) Order 2006

My Lords, noble Lords will be relieved to hear, due to the lateness of the hour, that we welcome the order, which is intended to ensure that the dispute resolution framework set out in the Employment Act 2002 will apply to the three stated new areas. We welcome any measures that will encourage more employers to engage in information and consultation activity. We believe that voluntary measures like this one allow the flexibility which is so helpful in dispute resolution. However, concerns with the overall cost of the statutory dispute resolution procedure have been raised with us by various business leaders. So we welcome the Government's decision to review the framework for settling dispute resolution, as set out in the Written Ministerial Statement last week. The Government admitted in that statement that, "““changes to the various components of the current system could produce real benefits for businesses and individuals, by reducing the time, cost and stress involved in settling disputes””.—[Official Report, 7/12/06; col. WS 139.]" To do that, they are reviewing the dispute resolution procedures 2004. That is welcome news, although the Institute of Directors and indeed the GMB, both of which had good reasons for saying so, suggested waiting to implement these regulations until after that review has been completed. Perhaps the Minister could expand on the Government’s reasons for going ahead. The North Western Local Authorities' Employers' Organisation claims that it will take two hours for managers to understand the effects of this order, but the Government have dismissed that claim. Can the Minister assure us that the Government will provide information about the implementation of this order to businesses in language that is easy to understand? As I said at the outset, we welcome the order. I look forward to the Minister's responses to these few points.