Employment Law

Debate between Lord Morris of Handsworth and Lord De Mauley

Monday 21st May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

I am sympathetic to what the noble Baroness says. As I have said, we are keeping an open mind on this issue of no-fault dismissal. It is a fact that the smallest businesses are less likely to have access to human resources and legal advice and are therefore less likely to feel confident in applying procedures. I think that is one of the key issues. We want to examine whether a no-fault dismissal system for microbusinesses would be helpful in dealing with this, particularly in increasing their confidence in employing people.

[Lord Morris of Handsworth]

My Lords, in repeating the Statement, the Minister said that,

“the UK is considered to have the third most flexible labour market in the OECD and this is an important strength”.

Will the Minister tell the House which other OECD countries operate a no-fault dismissal policy? In his Statement, the Minister also indicated that there is clear evidence that employers have dismissed people simply on the basis that they are not liked. If that is the case, is he not therefore proposing in this Statement and in the report a gateway for discrimination against a vast range of people in employment: women, people with disability, and others? The Minister indicated that the report was about the confidence to hire. Does he agree that it is also a blank cheque to fire?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, the noble Lord asked whether any other countries had in effect a micro-exemption. Germany does. He was also concerned about discrimination. Broadening the question, I will say that the Government will not tolerate discrimination in the workplace.

Aviation: Passenger Duty

Debate between Lord Morris of Handsworth and Lord De Mauley

Wednesday 25th January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

My noble friend will be very pleased to hear that his two-seater, provided it is propelled by a propeller, will be exempt.

[Lord Morris of Handsworth]

My Lords, in light of the Question on the Order Paper, do the Government now accept that the air passenger duty was falsely promoted as a positive measure towards mitigating climate change? Is it not just a Robin Hood tax in reverse whereby the Government take from poor families in the Caribbean, as we heard earlier this week, and give to bankers through subsidising their private jets?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, that is quite a question. The Caribbean issue was addressed extensively when my noble friend Lord Sassoon answered questions on Monday. As regards whether it is a tax dressed up as an environmental duty, broadly speaking I agree with the noble Lord. It is a revenue-raising duty which makes an important contribution to the public finances.

Postal Services Bill

Debate between Lord Morris of Handsworth and Lord De Mauley

Wednesday 6th April 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, before I start I should repeat my declaration of an interest in that my wife jointly owns and runs a business which is essentially a web-based mail order company and as such uses Royal Mail for delivery of its product.

Before I turn to the detail of the amendments, it may help if I provide a brief overview of the provisions in Part 2 of the Bill and the intentions behind them. These provisions will allow the Government to take over the historic deficit in the Royal Mail pension plan. As noble Lords are very well aware, the deficit in the Royal Mail pension plan is huge and volatile. As at 31 March 2010, it amounted to £8.4 billion, and the total liabilities in the plan amounted to £34.4 billion. So this pension burden is completely out of proportion to the size of the business. The provisions set out in Part 2 will allow this pension burden to be addressed as part of a package of measures to secure the future of the universal postal service. We propose that responsibility for the deficit will be removed from the business by the transfer of the historic liabilities to a new public pension scheme. Responsibility for ongoing pension accruals and salary-related liabilities will be left with the Royal Mail. Indeed, I think I can say that there is very little difference between this approach and that of the last Government.

[Lord Morris of Handsworth]

The Minister made reference to the liabilities. Could he say a word about the inherited assets?

[Lord De Mauley]

Yes, my Lords. As a general point, could I say that we are in Committee? So the noble Lord is free to come in after I have spoken, if he wishes. I do not think that my mental calculator is fast enough, but the assets are the difference between the £34.4 billion liabilities and the £8.4 billion deficit. My maths is failing me, but it is something in the region of £26 billion. But I am sure that divine intervention will bring the exact figure to me shortly.

Royal Mail will also continue to have full responsibility for past and ongoing accruals in the senior executive pension plan. These proposals will safeguard the pension benefits accrued by members and I am sure that all sides of the Committee share that objective. Member protection is paramount and features prominently in the Bill. In particular, Clause 19 provides that benefits—let me be clear, that is the full range of member benefits including increases and payments to dependants—cannot be adversely affected by transfer into the new public scheme. Our proposals are subject to state aid clearance, which is why some of the detail can be provided only in secondary legislation.