Contributions
1,586 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I hope that the hon. Lady is right, but part of the test that the amendment sets for the Government is whether it will work. Is it clear? Will it put the protections in place that…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I will just finish this point. Both hon. Ladies know that I will give way. Where would the test come? What should the NHS, as the employer, have done to prevent that situation?…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I will just finish this thought; the hon. Lady knows that I am not shy about taking interventions. Every business, even if it has only one or two employees, will know what the…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)Planned fire alarms are always quite disturbing, but never mind. I will broadly address the subject we are debating, before making specific comments on the new clauses tabled by…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I am grateful to the Minister for her explanation of clause 14. It is quite clear on a purely human level that bereavement can strike any family and any individual, often with…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship once more, Mr Mundell. The Minister mentioned that the clause builds on private Member’s legislation passed in the last…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)In many respects it is my job to be worried, to properly kick the tyres and to understand the operability of what the Government are trying to achieve. I certainly take the hon.…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I understand the point that the hon. Lady makes. I am the last person to want to put a greater burden or unnecessary burden on any form of business. All I gently suggest is that…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)He is a fine television superstar these days. All of us will have published these statements on our websites, because that is straightforwardly set out in…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)Certainly there is no objection from the Opposition to the principle of flexibility in ensuring people can have that choice and ability to dictate when leave is taken,…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I am building up to my wider point. To skip ahead, there will be circumstances where, even within the reasonableness test—I understand that test—something so unexpected and…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point. I broadly agree, but my challenge to him is that reasonableness can be interpreted in many different ways. There will always been an…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)Let me just finish this point. I am trying to deal with a real-life scenario that should not be happening, but does. What does the doctor or nurse do, under the Bill? Do they…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)However, maybe the hon. Gentleman will tell me.10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)What I am trying to test is the point at which the reasonability point would trigger. Is this the right Bill—the right set of clauses—to deal with the problems the hon. Member has…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I must take issue with the hon. Gentleman. I am not trying to trivialise anything. I have been clear from the outset about how seriously we should take sexual harassment, racial…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I hope that the hon. Gentleman is right, but that is not how the Bill is worded. The Bill allows the reasonability test to be applied over the top of the Equality Act definition…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I think I have been clear that every law available should be used—potentially, more could be passed—to properly prosecute, challenge, shut down and stop anyone inciting hatred on…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I will just finish this point, then I will be delighted to give way to my hon. Friend. The point I am trying to make is that bits of legislation that we are asked to consider…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I thank my hon. Friend for that. It may well be such an example. I must admit I resisted the urge to attend The Spectator awards last week. I am told the Health Secretary did make…10 Dec 2024