Trade Union Bill

My Lords, I cannot resist making one point on employee engagement. As we move on to the Certifica...

My Lords, I have a great deal of sympathy with long-standing trade union members on the other sid...

I do work in the financial services sector. I operate under the FCA and am a regulated individual...

I am glad to hear that; the noble Lord will know all about it then. But he is probably about to e...

Is not the real case that there was a massive problem in the financial and banking sector? There ...

I would dearly love to embark on a long debate with the noble Lord on the banking crash, but it w...

The other issue that is constantly reported on the radio is that of mis-selling, which created a ...

I will dig myself in deeper and say that, to my mind, a great deal of the mis-selling issue is un...

I declare an interest as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. I return to a point t...

My Lords, I want to make some general points about the Government’s proposal on the Certification...

My Lords, I shall speak to the amendments in this group, in particular Amendments 98 and 99, and ...

My Lords, I am reluctant to detain the Committee longer than is necessary, but I would like to co...

My Lords, I want to make a very short contribution. The noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, has said vir...

My Lords, the sore throat that I have been keeping at bay all week overwhelmed me earlier so I ap...

If I may interrupt, it is a shame that the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, is not here because it is im...

My Lords, I do not think that I have a great deal to add on that point now but I have some observ...

I am very reluctant to test the Minister’s voice, as I understand it is wavering a little, but sh...

I think so. It is important that we have an up-to-date regulator. The £2 million that I mentioned...

Has the noble Baroness consulted the Certification Officer in this respect? The evidence that he ...

As I have said, we are planning ongoing discussions with the Certification Officer, and it will b...

My Lords, let me deal first with the two chinks of light. The first was that the Minister said th...

My Lords, I have dealt with the issue of vexatious claims. Whenever you try to modernise a regula...

I accept the last point, but the report itself demonstrates that there are no problems with that....

May I assist the noble Lord by pointing out that one area in which we will have more disputes is ...

That is another extremely good point from the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham.

The truth is that at the moment the only people who can complain are the members. We are not hidi...

I thank the Minister for asking me to hurry up, but I am going to take my time in addressing this...

Moved by

Baroness Donaghy

101: Schedule 1, page 18, line 7, leave out “or any other p...

My Lords, I have one point about the impact assessment that relates to the previous issue, but I ...

I look forward to receiving the noble Baroness’s letter.

I shall speak also to Amendments 102, 103 and 105. Amendment 101 goes over some of the ground tha...

My Lords, I shall speak particularly to Amendment 104 in the names of my noble friends Lord Stone...

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Donaghy and congratulate her on some excellent amendments,...

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for these amendments. In considering them it is important to reflec...

I could make a number of points. I think the Minister has underestimated the issue of the percept...

Moved by

Lord Stoneham of Droxford

106: Schedule 2, page 21, line 37, leave out sub-p...

I shall speak also to Amendment 107. Both amendments stand in my name and in the names of my nobl...

My Lords, I will speak very briefly as we have spoken to the principle of the amendment and the n...

I start by responding to the noble Lord’s questions. On cost, I thought that that aspect of the i...

Did he say that they were needed? That is the key issue that we need to know.

I am not clear whether there is yet a Hansard record of what he said.

I thought that the Minister said that, although the Government did not initially consult the Cert...

As far as I know, he has not given a view on that either in the committee or elsewhere. We consul...

I thank the Minister for her reply. We have had a long debate on various aspects of the role of t...

Moved by

Baroness Donaghy

109: Clause 16, page 13, leave out lines 24 to 27

My Lords, it is getting to the stage where I have forgotten what a lot of these amendments are ab...

I thought you were going to say that you have lost the will to live.

I have also lost the will to live. However, Amendment 109 intends to delete the following:

...

I want to raise a couple of quick questions which I hope that the Minister will be able to respon...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, for her commendable honesty. I will seek to p...

I need clarity on this. Currently, where the Certification Officer publishes a decision and an en...

My Lords, my understanding is that the orders of Certification Officers are already enforceable a...

To clarify, the Bill gives over the powers of the Certification Officer. His order can be enforce...

I do not think that that is right, but perhaps I can write and clarify in the follow-up if I do n...

I thank the noble Baroness for her reply—I think. The best thing for me to do at this stage is sa...

As this is a technical point where there does not seem to be much difference between us, we can a...

I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Moved by

Lord Mendelsohn

117B: Schedule 3, page 28, line 26, leave out “£20,000” and ...

My Lords, I think that we have gained a bit of momentum and I hope not to interrupt it.

We ...

I will be brief because, frankly, discussing this issue will almost cost more—given all the noble...

I rise to intervene briefly, having listened carefully all afternoon to our exchanges. I thank th...

I thank Lord Mendelsohn for the amendment. This short debate has raised an important question abo...

Is the Minister going to give an example of where due process has not been followed which justifi...

The honest answer is: not this evening. Obviously, we are making the regulator more responsive. W...

But normally when you reform a process, it is because something is not being enforced properly. I...

An enforcement order not complied with?

I do not know the answer this evening. I am not sure I am going to give way on this point. We are...

I thank the Minister for that reply. I think the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, has really put his fi...

I have already said in a previous discussion that we very much understand the point about small u...

Moved by

Baroness Donaghy

118: Clause 18, page 15, line 3, leave out “may” and insert...

My Lords, I think that I know where I am now. We are on to the proposal for a levy. Points have a...

My Lords, I will make a couple of points about new Section 257A(4) in Clause 18, which covers the...

The noble Lord will be aware that I have already said, in promising letters, that I will ensure t...

I will not admit to whether I am a nook or a cranny, but I thank the noble Baroness for that.

I shall speak in particular to Clause 18 stand part in this group of amendments. We have consider...

My Lords, Clause 18 gives the Secretary of State power to make affirmative regulations to provide...

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have been engaged in this very long debate today. On the fi...

Could the Minister explain why it is right in the case of the trade unions and not in the case of...

My Lords, government is not always logical, and while some regulators receive public funding many...

I am glad the Minister’s voice just about held out. I appreciate the points that she made. I will...