My Lords, this is a pretty crucial element. We are turning over some territory which we first discussed during Second Reading. I really hope that we may be able to make some inroads on this—obviously, recognising that the Small Business Commissioner has an immediate and urgent task, very narrowly defined, and that its role is very narrowly defined on whom it is serving.
The amendments in this group, Amendments 11, 12 and 34, address some significant issues about the role and scope of the Small Business Commissioner. We are looking at two areas in particular. The first is
that the Small Business Commissioner has a mediating role. That is a crucial opportunity for the commissioner. Experience of such roles suggests that that is a very useful mechanism. The other powers provide much wider platforms for the Small Business Commissioner to be able to act in concert with others, encouraging others to be able to take certain actions.
Subsection (8) states:
“The Commissioner may make recommendations to the Secretary of State about the publication, or provision to small businesses”,
and Amendment 11 allows the Small Business Commissioner to act on the recommendations where it sees fit. Amendment 34 provides:
“The Small Business Commissioner may facilitate … representative action taken by a number of small business claimants in a case where a number of small businesses have complaints against the same company which share common characteristics”.
That does not mean that it would become the principal litigant, but is a way in which problems can be addressed. Where each individual may have problems that they cannot discuss within the context of the company for a variety of anti-competitive reasons, the Small Business Commissioner, where it sees a pattern, can help to trigger some significant action.
That works not just in relation to the commissioner’s general duties. Ultimately, with late payments, where people facing the same characteristics are unlikely to share information about their current circumstance, the Small Business Commissioner in and of itself becomes the agency by which others may be aware and help to facilitate action by the individuals or by third parties on their behalf, which helps to ensure that a company that is in particular default of its obligations can be challenged to meet them.
Again, this works very nicely in tandem with the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms which we have been debating for some time, and which are subject to some changes, and with the signposting role of the Small Business Commissioner to other forms of mediation, but in and of itself having a mediating role. It is also a means by which the Small Business Commissioner can build confidence with other segments in business.
If we make it seem that it is the champion advocate only in a very narrow sense and there is no sense in which it is trying to build a co-operative and collaborative environment, I have no doubt that we will see the shutters go down in many quarters. That is not a constructive place to be, so for us it is very important that such measures help to sustain successful business relationships. That is where the Small Business Commissioner can act in and of itself to take the heat that sometimes exists out of the relationships between companies where their problems, concerns and legitimate interests are not addressed because of the potential consequences, impairing the relationship between two business entities.
I hope that this package of measures is fairly consistent with the Small Business Commissioner’s current roles. If it were to be passed—I hope to persuade the Government to adopt some modicum of its provisions—the powers that it does not use in pursuit of its current
narrow, focused and extremely specific role could be available in future. One would hope that the Government would see it in that light. I beg to move.
6 pm