Contributions
402 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Eighth sitting)The hon. Gentleman seems to be looking for statistical evidence about employers unreasonably refusing flexible working requests. I must say that it is a shame that the workplace…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Eighth sitting)I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising that point. It is a shame that our Liberal Democrat colleagues are not able to join us, because we could have an interesting…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Eighth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your exemplary chairmanship, Sir Christopher. Before I get into the clause, may I say that I enjoyed my discussion with the shadow Minister about…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Eighth sitting)We heard from the Co-op, in the evidence sessions that we all attended last week, that that support is there. Off the top of my head, I would add Octopus and Centrica, two…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Eighth sitting)Does the hon. Gentleman accept that if the Bill were to go back to the Department as he suggests, the period in which changes to employment legislation are considered by…05 Dec 2024HANSARD Northern Ireland: Legacy of the TroublesOn 21 November we marked the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings. That date will have been felt most heavily by the families of the 21 people who never came home, and…04 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifth sitting)The Minister spoke about the insecurity that can hang over agency workers, and said that their employment situation does not always represent genuine flexibility. As someone who…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Sixth sitting)I am grateful to the shadow Minister; I suspect he is setting some kind of record with the number of interventions he is taking. Earlier, he said that there may be alternative…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Sixth sitting)rose —03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Sixth sitting)I will not keep the Committee long. A lot has rightly been said about the need for certainty for business, but we should remember that the other side of the coin is the need for…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Sixth sitting)I follow my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester and the hon. Member for Torbay, who both made very able speeches. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire,…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifth sitting)The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 sets the reference period at 12 weeks. The hon. Gentleman says that 18 months is probably an artificially high number. Does…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifth sitting)My personal view is that they should not be accepted, but the hon. Gentleman surely knows that he should not seek an opinion on the party position from a Back-Bench MP. My second…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifth sitting)I rise to make two brief points that have not been made in this debate. The first, which is narrow, is that we already have a legal definition of SMEs under the Companies Acts…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifth sitting)I am grateful to the shadow Minister for giving way; he has been generous with his time. On the point about perverse incentives, does he accept that if this group of amendments…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fifth sitting)I again draw attention to my declarations in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and my membership of the Unite and GMB trade unions. Does the shadow Minister recognise…03 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fourth sitting)Q Minister, over the past two years, we have seen some of the highest levels of industrial action since the 1980s. Could you tell us what effect you think the Bill will have on…28 Nov 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Third sitting)Q I was struck, in the impact assessments, by the statements that a number of the costs, but particularly more the benefits, or potential benefits, of these measures cannot…28 Nov 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Third sitting)Q For context in respect of a previous question, the record shows that “re-unionisation of the economy” was language used in a question by the shadow Minister, not in an answer…28 Nov 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Fourth sitting)Q I apologise to the panel for returning to an earlier dispute in this quite disjointed way, but just for the record, earlier this week one of our witnesses, Paul Nowak, said: “I…28 Nov 2024