Enterprise Bill [HL]

My Lords, before the noble Lord comes back again, I thank the Minister for that clarification. In particular, in the first instance, I think we are all concerned about late payments. As for public authorities, the instance I gave is about looking at local authorities as well. I am not sure whether the amendment, as it stands, would include both local and national authorities. On the charity side, negotiations invariably take place with local government, which is key. At the moment, with the economic pressures that local authorities are under, clearly it is putting extra pressure on those who are bidding for commissioning and everything else that goes with it. Therefore I was not quite clear whether the noble Lord’s amendment would include local authorities as well as national ones.