Schedule 1 - Constitution of public benefit corporations
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
9:45 am
Mr Simon Burns (West Chelmsford, Conservative)
The Under-Secretary was being unduly optimistic an hour ago if she thought that the amendments were simple, if not merely technical. No doubt that heralds the benefit of having an astute Opposition on the Committee. One may assume that many of her hon. Friends—with the possible exception of the hon. Member for Ealing, North, who is a half-rebel on these matters—would not have made those valid objections.
The two amendments, particularly amendment No. 153, raise genuine issues. Earlier, I was minded to ask my right hon. and hon. Friends to join me in dividing the Committee if the Under-Secretary's response was not satisfactory. I was heartened, and even encouraged, by her reasonableness. More importantly, I was heartened by her commitment that she will consider preparing amendments later to deal with what we regard as an important matter; namely, people who have their short-term contracts renewed almost as a matter of course.
I ask her to be as lenient as possible when drafting those amendments, so that the Bill can be as inclusive as possible. I am not convinced that more than 12 months is the right time scale. It is too long in any case, but I will not split hairs because of the Under-Secretary's commitment. I fully recognise that she has not had a reasonable amount of time to get to the bottom of those issues during the debate. However, I hope that, at some point—either in a letter to my hon. Friends and myself, or at an appropriate stage in the proceedings—she will clarify the point about the proposed EU agency workers directive.