Employment Bill [Lords]

Accommodation can be directly provided, as part of a voluntary activity, but we were not keen to have what could be large amounts of rent changing hands. Large sums could be involved, and that could take us into a grey area in deciding what was expenses and what was not. So we have widened the definition, and accommodation can be directly provided. That is the judgment that we reached on the issue. Clauses 15 to 17 will change the enforcement of employment agency legislation. Under the Employment Agencies Act 1973, any breach of the Act or the regulations made under it that govern employment agencies is a criminal offence capable of being tried in a magistrates court. By making offences triable either way, as the Bill will do, we aim to increase deterrence against non-compliance by the prospect of the unlimited fines available in the Crown court for the worst offenders. Stronger investigative powers, including the right to take away documents to copy and to request financial information on non-compliant agencies held by financial institutions, should also enable more successful prosecution of the worst offenders. Alongside the strengthening of the enforcement powers, we are doubling the number of inspectors appointed under employment agency legislation. That will provide important additional resources, both to help legitimate agencies that seek to comply with the law and to enable inspectors to crack down on non-compliance. Finally, the Bill will amend trade union law to ensure that it complies with the European convention on human rights, following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of ASLEF v. the United Kingdom. According to that judgment, the current limitations on the ability of trade unions to exclude or expel individuals on the grounds of their membership of a political party breach article 11 of the convention. Clause 18 will therefore amend the sections of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 that gave rise to the ASLEF v. the UK case. The case involved the inability of ASLEF to expel members of the British National party whose views were incompatible with those of the union.