Clause 30 - Contracts of employment
Employment Bill
10:30 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
Desolate, indeed, at my enforced departure. I have been fortunate enough to secure an Adjournment debate on a matter of great importance in my constituency. I trust that I may crave your indulgence, Mr. Benton, and that of the Committee. My hon. Friends will hold the fort admirably in my absence.
Amendment No. 53 is yet another step in my perhaps not quite one-man campaign to try to reduce the earning potential of lawyers. Under clause 30 statutory provisions are written into contracts of employment. The Minister has explained the logic of his position and I do not take issue with the substance of that. However, subsection (2) provides that
''Subsection (1) shall have effect notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, but does not affect so much of an agreement to follow a particular procedure as requires the employer or employee to comply with a requirement which is additional to, and not inconsistent with, the requirement of the statutory procedure.''
As I understand it-the clause is not easily penetrable-it will not interfere with the wording of the contract to the extent that the contract provides for procedures in addition to and not inconsistent with the statutory procedures. Clearly what the Minister has in mind is that if employers and employees want to agree on a more comprehensive disputes procedure-perhaps if they want to adopt the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service's code-nothing in the clause should prevent them from doing so.
If the Minister has in mind adoption of the ACAS code, I can see why he has not addressed the problem that I am trying to address. If it is established that the ACAS code
''is additional to, and not inconsistent with''
the statutory procedures, adoption of the ACAS code in a contract will clearly be acceptable. However, there is no specific reference to the ACAS code and it is possible that employers and employees could try to write into contracts other provisions that may be inconsistent with the statutory procedures, which would open the door for yet another lawyers' bonanza.
I have tried to provide a procedure whereby ACAS could pre-clear a contract so that if an employer, a group of employees, a trade union or a group of employers through a trade association or federation wanted to produce a model contract, they would be able to submit it to ACAS and obtain what amounts to a pre-clearance of the wording of the contract as being compliant with the Bill. I am simply trying to avoid unnecessary litigation and to provide some certainty for all parties concerned. I am not committed to the wording or the method in the amendment, but I hope that the Minister will accept the principle that we want to establish certainty so that employers and employees can enter contractual arrangements knowing that they are compliant comply with the law without having to get involved with lawyers. The ACAS route is the obvious one, but I look forward to hearing from the Minister and, if he accepts in principle what I am trying to achieve, whether he can suggest a better method of achieving that.