Enterprise Bill [HL]

Lord Haskel Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Haskel (Lab)]

My Lords, owing to a mix-up my name was not on the speakers list, so, instead of my prepared speech, here are four bullet points for speaking in the gap.

First, regarding the commissioner, many attempts have been made to encourage prompt payments, and all have failed. In most companies, cash out requires cash in, and firms have their own carefully calculated cash flow. Without considerably more powers, a commissioner would not be able to do very much about that. Where I think a commissioner can be of value is in resolving disputes quickly and cheaply.

Secondly, on the Industrial Development Act and poor broadband, the Minister will be aware that BT says that money is not the problem. Others say that what is needed is competition for BT. The Bill should increase the powers of Ofcom so that it can deal with this. While I am on the question of broadband, the Bill ignores that rising form of work referred to as “the human cloud”. The Bill should find a form of arrangement that is suited to this type of work.

Thirdly, as apprenticeships have become more politicised, so they have become more complex. The Bill should provide a clear route of progression through all this.

Fourthly, on public sector redundancy pay, small businesses need good people in public services, particularly in the use of science and technology funded by the Government. This clause can be misinterpreted, it does not encourage that, and it should not be there.