New Clause 2
Employment Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Unless we get a more substantive response from the Government, the new clause is a key issue that will require a Division of the Committee.
In essence, the new clause looks at what would happen if someone did not pay the employment tribunal award. As it stands, there would then be a civil enforcement process. We will come to the fact that equality of arms is the key issue. A lot of the people who are trying to get money that has not been paid to them are in a challenging position, having to go to a civil court and go through that process. The new clause would put a duty on the Government to produce secondary legislation. We are not trying to specify in minute detail how that should be done—I would not be surprised if this proposal had been drafted by Citizens Advice, but I am not 100 per cent. certain, not having been involved at that stage.
People should recognise that there is a real problem here. The Government need to act. This is the right vehicle to create regulations enabling the enforcement process to be handled, so I would like to press new clause 2 to a vote, unless the Government pull some legislative rabbit out of the hat.