Employment Bill
9:45 am
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Employment and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
On the question of our declaring interests as employers, I go along with Mr. Speaker's statement on Second Reading. I guess that most hon. Members are employers of research assistants and so on. I am happy to say that I am a member of the Communication Workers Union. Indeed, I am happy to say that on every occasion. As I said on Second Reading, it is a one-way process: I give the union money and it gives me nothing but the joy and pleasure of being a member of it.
The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge made an important point about regulation, but he will not be surprised if I say that there is nothing new about Bills to which, to a great degree, regulation is attached. A mix of primary and secondary legislation is needed. It would not be right to deal with certain matters in the Bill; it is proper to deal with them in regulations. Certain Bills that went through the House in the 1980s and 1990s under the previous Government were littered with regulation-making powers, so there is nothing unusual in that.
That said, I take the hon. Gentleman's point that, as we are reliant on regulation in this respect, amendments will be tabled to tease out the Government's position. I accept that fully, as I hope he will accept that most of the elements in the Bill have been the subject of exhaustive consultation. The provisions relating to working parents had probably the most exhaustive consultation that I can recall for any Bill. The Government have made our position clear on almost every aspect.
I was pleased to hear the hon. Gentleman talk about a balance of interests, but he said that it was between employers and trade unions. I think that the balance is between rights and responsibilities, and the balance of interests is between employers and employees. Apart from the important element about union learning representatives, the measures apply to people at work, whether or not they are members of trade unions. However, the hon. Gentleman is right that we have struck a fair balance.
The Leggatt review is of the whole tribunal system. It would not have been right to put a blight on these proposals while we awaited its outcome, but the Department of Trade and Industry and the Lord Chancellor's Department agreed to set up the employment tribunal system taskforce. It will not consider legislation but will consider how the employment tribunal system can run far more effectively.
We were happy to discuss the Bill in the order in which it was published, moving from part 1 to part 4. Following discussions through the usual channels, we are equally happy to change the order of discussion so that we can take employment tribunals first. I am happy with the motion that has been proposed.
Finally, I do not believe that the right to request is a separate policy. That is part of the modernisation of the workplace and workplace relations, and I think that it sits happily in the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.