🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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My Lords, I am enormously grateful to the Minister, who actually answered my questions. I hope that that is not a bad sign. Is that a bad sign? I think that we should be told. That was a spirited and enjoyable debate, and I thank everybody who took part in it. I am particularly grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Fox, because he said that the Liberal Democrats believed in free association. I am...
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My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for explaining and introducing the statutory instruments, to the first of which, as he has noted, I have tabled a regret amendment. The instruments risk making it easier, quicker and cheaper for unions to secure a mandate for strike action, while leaving too many questions unanswered about ballot integrity, cyber security, workplace disruption,...
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I totally understand where the noble Lord is coming from, of course, and I think we have indicated already that we are broadly supportive of the direction of travel. What he is in effect saying is that the suppliers have to behave better, reduce defects and do all sorts of other good stuff, all of which is admirable and worthy, but what are the incentives to ensure that they do? I am sure...
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My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Lansley for speaking in this debate and introducing his amendments. Banning retention payments is one of the key changes that this Bill will introduce, but it is also one of the most contested, so I will begin by outlining our general position on these Benches. We do not in principle oppose this step by the Government. To outline the scale of this issue,...
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My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond for this amendment. I am sorry that noble Lords have caught me eating a toffee, which was a terrible error. The ability to charge statutory interest on late payments was established by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. That Act, however, introduced that right only as a right to charge, which many businesses may...
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My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his explanation and for the context around some of the amendments that he has provided. I thank all noble Lords who spoke in the debate, especially my noble friend Lord Holmes. I will be brief in response. I totally accept that the Government do not want to use this Bill, which they rightly want to get through the House quickly, for a protracted...
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My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, for introducing his amendment. I cannot really improve on what has already been said, except to say that this issue has been raised with His Majesty’s Opposition in the run-up to this Committee stage. It is right that, should technology permit it, import and export trade contracts should be treated the same...
More of Lord Sharpe of Epsom's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Leong on 21 July (HL Deb cols 1068-1070), what assessment they have made of whether late payments may be the fault of a third party or a bank; and whether such payments should be subject to statutory interest.
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To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in reforming environmental, social, and governance rules to ensure that they are not used by financial institutions to deny banking services, including loans, to the UK defence sector.
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Leong on 21 July (HL Deb col 1078), in which scenarios the Secretary of State would consider adopting a business-size definition different to existing definitions.
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Leong on 21 July (HL Deb col 1078), whether businesses will be expected to determine their own size, and that of their business partners.
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Leong on 21 July (HL Deb cols 1068-1070), whether they plan to review the 60-day maximum payment term for non-public authorities; and what plans they have, if any, to incentivise early payment.
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Leong on 21 July (HL Deb col 1070), what assessment they have made of whether commercial contracts subject to sections 233, 233A and 233B of the Insolvency Act 1986 are treated differently to other creditors.
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Leong on 21 July (HL Deb cols 1068-1070), what assessment they have made of the economic impact of the new section 2E(2) of the Commercial Payments and Interest on Late Payment Act 1998.
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To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of evidence on the efficacy of employee health benefits to support decision-makers in small- and medium-sized enterprises to invest confidently in workforce health solutions.
More of Lord Sharpe of Epsom's written questions
