Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Main Page: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Marland
I could not agree more with my noble friend. We should obviously look at this proposal. It will go through this House as it is going through the other place at the moment and we will have the opportunity to scrutinise what is currently a concept and put some straight edges on it, which this House always does so well. I could not agree more that it needs looking at very carefully. However, this is a voluntary scheme, as I have said, and it is surely in the best interests of corporate endeavour to have employees and employers working together as a scheme.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, is it not a fact that one person’s volunteerism is another person’s bullying? Does the Minister agree that these plans are on a par with efforts now being made to disestablish the NHS Agenda for Change national pay scheme? Will he agree to look into the activities being undertaken by those who want to dismantle Agenda for Change and intervene to stop them?
Lord Marland
We have to be very careful about bandying around harsh words such as “bullying”. That is not reasonable. We have a voluntary agreement. Companies in my experience—I have a reasonable amount of experience—do best where both employees and employers co-operate. I was proud to be a founder shareholder of a business where well over 80% of the employees were shareholders. It meant that there was a community of interest and spirit of endeavour. We want to encourage that. It is incumbent on this Government to find ways of generating enterprise and a spirit of going forward together. This scheme does that admirably.