Clause 38 - Failure to give statement of employment particulars, etc.
Employment Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman has touched on my Achilles heel. I am not a lawyer, but there is something of the frustrated lawyer in me.
The language of the Bill is impenetrable. Many Bills that we consider depend on references and amendments to other legislation, which can make it impossible to discern the end effect from a reading of the Bill. That is unfortunate. I was struck by that peculiar lack of symmetry and I shall go away and reflect on it further.
I am not surprised that the Minister did not accept amendment No. 82; I am slightly surprised that I forgot to speak to it in my opening remarks, but we shall let that pass. However, there is an idea—it lies behind much of today's discussion—that breaches of procedure must be material and have some impact before people are penalised in respect of them. There was a huge sigh of relief from employer organisations, especially small business organisations, when the Minister decided to tackle the matter head on and say that issues of fairness in dismissal and in the way in which people are dealt with at work must be about substance, not form. The issue cannot be minor nit-picking over whether procedures have been followed and whether, for example, the correct word has been used; it must be something more substantive.
However, the Minister then introduced the minimum statutory procedures to which he does not extend that logic. He says that if someone fails to comply with those procedures to the letter, they will be penalised regardless of whether that failure has any impact. That is slightly out of keeping with the his general tone and approach to the clause, and I tabled the amendment to probe his thinking on the issue. That said, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.