Employment: Rights
Debate between Lord Marland and Lord Razzall
Lord Marland
My Lords, I have obviously read the TUC’s views on this, and I am not surprised that the noble Lord should wish to propound them, but we must understand that this is a voluntary, not a compulsory, scheme between employees and employers. Surely that is the best way forward for employee relations, as the noble Lord must concede.
Lord Razzall
My Lords, does the Minister agree that, if the Government are determined to proceed with this proposal, it is absolutely essential that, when legislation is brought forward, safeguards are built in to ensure that there is no compulsion from the employer on the employee and that a mechanism is put in place whereby appropriate legal advice can be obtained by any employee before he takes up this offer?
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.
Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012: Trade and Investment
Debate between Lord Marland and Lord Razzall
Lord Marland
I can confirm that reports about that decision are true. The decision was made after a lot of business plan reviews, which one would expect from any government organisation. Things have improved dramatically out there. It used to take 48 hours to get from Baghdad to Basra; it now takes an hour by plane, so it is much easier to get to. As regards the future in that part of the world, we believe that we should have an office in Erbil for the Kurdistan region and boost our office in Baghdad. This is being done with great consideration and I think that the noble Lord will be able to see the effects of it later.
Lord Razzall
My Lords, bearing in mind the criticism generated against the department that the noble Lord has recently joined, will the Minister take the opportunity to explain to the House the efforts that he and others have been making to improve trade and investment?
Lord Marland
I am very grateful for that question because it opens up an extremely nice opportunity. Bringing this matter back to the Olympics, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, my noble friend Lord Green and even I have been to Rio. We have also all been to Qatar, and two or three people have been to Russia to ensure that we fully benefit from the wonderful warm glow of the Olympics. I myself am catching a plane to sub-Saharan Africa tonight.