Clause 5
Compensation Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Oliver Heald (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Assisted By Shadow Solicitor General), Constitutional Affairs; North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
I do not think that the hon. Gentleman has spotted the full subtlety of what the Government are suggesting. I agree with him—all claims handlers ought to be covered by this Bill. If they are already regulated by another body then they may be exempt. But the Bill says that only people whom the Government choose to regulate are actually regulated. It is quite easy to be a claims handler under this Bill and not be regulated at all. The Minister can then say that a union is exempt.
What is Vendside but a wholly-owned creature of the Union of Democractic Mineworkers? It is the UDM. I am concerned that the clause is not going to cover Vendside. It is not going to cover the unions. And I cannot imagine that the hon. Member for Sherwood (Paddy Tipping) would sanction the way the NUM and the UDM have been going on—it just is not good enough.