Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill

Debate between Matt Hancock and Gordon Banks

Tuesday 18th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

First, the fact that everybody will now know, because they will read the Hansard, that that company pays in 180 days will have an impact, but the transparency measures in this Bill will take that information in Hansard and make it much more widely public. We have also made a change to the prompt payment code. Big companies could stay within that even if they made their payment practices worse, and we have seen a couple of examples of that recently, so we have convened a new prompt payment advisory board to strengthen the code. That code will only work if it has teeth, so people in the code who have poor prompt payment practices, or who make their prompt payment practices worse, need to be removed from the code, and that must be made to happen in a very public way to demonstrate that the code has teeth; otherwise, it does not have any teeth at all.

[Gordon Banks]

The Minister will recall that I mentioned that in Scotland there are 43 businesses on the prompt payment code register. What will he do to increase that number? If there are 43 businesses on the register, the system is not working.

[Matthew Hancock]

There are 1,700 businesses on the register from across the country as a whole. Of course, this is targeted at the biggest companies because they are typically the ones at the top of the supply chains, but I would be very happy to work with the hon. Gentleman to increase the number in Scotland.

Daylight Saving Bill

Debate between Matt Hancock and Gordon Banks

Friday 3rd December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Gordon Banks]

If the hon. Lady had been listening to my remarks, she would have known that we are not going to oppose the passage of the Bill today. However, some questions need answering and that is why the Committee and the commission will sit. It is right that these questions are asked and that some of these concerns are being voiced in this debate.

I wish to go back to the debate about 9 to 5 and 10 to 6. We already have industries, such as construction, that do not conform to a traditional working day. I wonder whether any study has been commissioned on how these changes will have an impact on family life as a result of possible work practice changes, rather than just the leisure aspect. Such work practice changes may come about if people whose jobs currently operate from 8.30 am to 5 pm find themselves working from 10 am to 7 pm in future.

[Matthew Hancock]

Given that the hon. Gentleman has made a strong argument for the need to ask more questions and receive more answers, for example, on the construction industry, why will he not vote in favour of the Bill?

[Gordon Banks]

I have already told the House that we are not going to block the progress of the Bill. We look forward to the information that will flow from the Bill and allow us the opportunity to come back to have a full vote before any overall change is made to the time structure in the United Kingdom for a period longer than the trial period.

I have discussed only a few of the issues that have concerned me and are concerning others outside this House. If Members on the Government Benches did not share these views, they would not be proposing the commission and so on. The Opposition do not intend to oppose Second Reading stage today. However, as I have outlined, many issues deserve much greater scrutiny in Committee, should it be the will of the House that the Bill is passed today.

We should not be making decisions in this House on the basis of emotion; we should be making informed decisions, which is what the electorate expect of us. The Bill proposes to give us a raft of information, on the basis of which we would be able to make well-informed decisions, not emotional ones.