"My Lords, I listened very carefully to that wonderfully rosy picture of the UK economy. Can the Minister reconcile that with the most recent employment statistics, which show a decrease in payrolled employment and an increase in unemployment? That does not reconcile with what he is trying to convince us …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"As noble Lords know, this is the final group of amendments, and I must say that I am very flattered that so many noble Lords on the Benches opposite have stayed to hear it.
The inspiration for these amendments is the Social Security Advisory Committee, which has been in existence …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"My Lords, I will not detain the Committee for long. With the exception of the expert group, which I was not aware of, I could have written the Minister’s speaking notes myself. They ran along the lines of, “Blah, blah, blah, consultation; blah, blah, blah, Select Committees” and, basically, “We …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"My Lords, in this group of amendments, I have the stand part notice for Clause 114. I support the several amendments in this group in the name of my noble friend Lady Coffey, many of which are probing amendments to try to find out more about this clause. I could …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"In the case of the noble Lord’s response to this group of amendments, and the response to the previous group of amendments by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, the Ministers have claimed that these clauses are covered by manifesto commitments. The Labour Party manifesto is not something I carry around …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"That was a rather surprising statement. Is the Minister saying that these costs are not included in the estimates that have already been given for the costs of the fair work agency, which were included in the various documents surrounding the Bill? He has just implied that it will be …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"Further to that point, will the Minister clarify whether he is talking about medium-sized companies, which might just about cope with the bureaucracy of being a B Corp, or about the vast majority of businesses in this country, which are small and micro companies? There is a big difference between …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"My Lords, the amendments just spoken to by the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere, are clearly very important. I hope the Government will take them extremely seriously. I have three amendments in this rather strange group, which seems to be the dustbin for amendments broadly about the fair work …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech
"My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady O’Grady of Upper Holloway, and I took part in the debates on the 2023 Bill when it went through your Lordships’ House—obviously, on different Benches. She is right that no employer sought to use the powers in the 2023 Act, but the Act had …..." Baroness Noakes - View Speech