Employment Rights Bill

Baroness Coffey Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 16th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

My Lords, Amendments 263 and 330 standing in my name require the Secretary of State to conduct a consultation on the effects of the provisions in Part 4 on the operation of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and to report on the outcome and any proposed changes. It is a modest proposal, even a restrained one, but, make no mistake, it is a necessary amendment and a crucial one.

What we have before us in Part 4 is not the result of careful planning, measured engagement or evidence-based policy. No, what we have instead is a so far unconsulted set of sweeping reforms to trade union law inserted on Report in the other place with little scrutiny and even less transparency. I believe it is extraordinary that provisions of such weight, which could dramatically alter the balance of industrial relations right across the country, should arrive in this House having not been through a proper public consultation. The provisions would allow the Secretary of State to rewrite fundamental aspects of how trade unions operate, how they are recognised, how they interact with businesses and how ballots are conducted. This is not a footnote to the Bill. This is, I believe, a redrawing of the boundaries of employment law and industrial relations. It has been done without engaging employers, without informing the HR community and without giving those who will be most directly affected any chance to prepare.

We must ask ourselves who, precisely, was consulted. It certainly was not business. It was not those employers, large and small, who will be forced to navigate the implications of this legislation. We are left to presume that only the trade unions were consulted, or at least advised, because the changes serve their interests almost exclusively. They have access to workplaces in ever-broadening circumstances. There is the weakening of independent oversight by stripping powers from the certification officer; the dilution, or in some cases outright removal, of long-standing ballot thresholds that were introduced to protect the legitimacy of industrial action; and the potential for significant changes to trade union recognition processes that could alter the employer-union relationship fundamentally—all to be done by secondary legislation.

That point cannot be emphasised enough. These changes are not in the Bill. They are hidden in the detail that is to be brought forward later through regulations, through statutory instruments, through mechanisms that allow for no amendment and only limited debate. That is no way to legislate on matters as fundamental as the recognition of trade unions or the conditions for lawful industrial action. These are not administrative details. These are foundational questions of how workers and employers interact under the law. They deserve full, open, transparent scrutiny. They deserve proper consultation.

Perhaps most galling of all is that even when the Government speak of consultation, they do so with inconsistency and confusion. I draw your Lordships’ attention to two statements by the Minister for Employment Rights in the other place, Mr Justin Madders. On 7 May he stated unequivocally:

“No decision has yet been made by the Government as to whether or when to exercise this power. Therefore, there is no planned timetable for consulting on it at present”.


No decision, no timetable, no consultation—yet less than a month later, on 3 June, the same Minister declared:

“The Government will consider what criteria to assess whether to lower the recognition threshold in due course, including through the public consultation process”.


We go from no consultation to a planned consultation in the space of four weeks.

This is not just a contradiction. It is, sadly, becoming a symptom of a Government who are making policy on the hoof and who are unable or unwilling to provide clarity on matters of legal and constitutional significance. Let us talk plainly about what that power is. It is the power to reduce the threshold for trade union recognition to just 2%. No justification is offered for that number. There is no White Paper, no consultation document, no cost-benefit analysis, no report from ACAS, no statement from employer organisations or trade bodies, not a single name that the Government can point to that supports the reduction of that recognition threshold to just 2%.

Yet here we are, with Ministers potentially claiming this power to change that threshold by statutory instrument, out of reach of substantive parliamentary control. Why is it 2% and not 20% or 50%? If the Government believe that a change is needed, surely a change should be in the Bill and the rationale should be available to all stakeholders, including this House. If the Government are not prepared to provide that rationale, surely we are entitled to suspect that it has not been thought through.

How will employers respond to these changes? What of the small businesses, the charities, the start-ups, the growing firms that have never had to deal with trade union recognition processes before? They are not anti-trade union. They are simply unprepared, yet under these proposals they may soon be required to accommodate access, to facilitate recognition and to engage in statutory processes for which they have no guidance, no support and no warning. These employers are being thrown into an environment of legal uncertainty, an environment shaped not by consultation or consensus but by expediency. It is also abundantly clear that the Government have shown little interest in listening when they have, in the past, consulted.

On those parts of the Bill where consultation has occurred, however limited, the views of employers and professionals have largely been ignored. We are hearing consistently that business voices are being drowned out and that legitimate concerns about workability, proportionality and unintended consequences are being brushed aside. What then is the purpose of consultation, if it is treated as a procedural formality rather than a genuine dialogue?

Let me repeat again for emphasis: on trade union recognition itself, there has been no consultation. It was confirmed in the other place. To move forward with such a major change in industrial relations law without even the courtesy of asking stakeholders their views is frankly an abdication of responsible governance.

I do not stand here as someone hostile to trade unions: far from it. I recognise their historic role and their ongoing contributions to workplace fairness and safety. But fairness has to go both ways. Changes of this scale must be fair, transparent and built on consensus, not stealthily inserted into a Bill and then pushed forward by ministerial decree. That is why the amendment matters. It seeks only to do what the Government should have done in the first place. It seeks to restore process and balance where neither is currently present. I urge your Lordships to support it, not out of ideology or political interest but out of principle, out of a shared commitment to deliberative democracy and out of basic respect for all those who will live and work under the laws we make in the House. I beg to move.

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, the reason I support the amendment is that it links making sure we get the consultations done and then not proceeding with the legislation until that has been printed. This goes to the heart of trying to understand, in effect, the detail of the Bill and how it really will impact jobs, because that is what this is about; how we will not only help workers but make sure they have jobs to still be in. That continues to be the underlying concern, which is why this perfectly formed group of amendments makes sure that at least this House knows full well what the expectation is that employers have, and the risks and opportunities that are highlighted, before it makes the final decision on when this becomes legislation.

[Baroness Verma (Con)]

My Lords, I just want to intervene very briefly as well. I have raised numerous times that I worry that small and medium-sized businesses have been completely left out of the debate. I spend all my time speaking to small and medium-sized businesses, and most of them are very unaware and quite nervous when they get to hear that a lot of legislation is coming their way, and they are certainly not prepared for it.

My grandfather, Mr Ujagar Singh, was one of the founders of the Indian Workers’ Association, and he created that with others to ensure that Indian workers had rights in the 1930s. So I understand it when we are standing up for workers’ rights, because at that time many Indian workers were not even protected by the unions that were here at the time. I am always conflicted, because I want to always make sure that we always have the right laws in place for the workforce. But, at the same time, I have been in business for over four decades, I talk to small businesses all the time, and the one thing that makes me incredibly worried and nervous is the absolute lack of consultation that has gone on with this enormous Bill that will actually destroy jobs, because those small businesses will just close up and shut shop.

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[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, jumping to Clause 92, I shall start by addressing Amendment 271ZZB in my name. It refers to the annual report that the Secretary of State would be expected to make on the extent to which they have undertaken the enforcement functions. I have a particular problem with suggesting that it is acceptable to have in primary legislation:

“As soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year”.


There have been plenty of other reports which say that things will not fit the grid slot, or that all these other things that get in the way. We get promised a child poverty strategy, then we discover it will arrive probably about seven months after originally planned. Those sorts of things are the reason I have simply suggested that this should be done within three months. I have seen that happen for other things, such as the Environment Act, where a specific timing is put on reports. To me, this is no different in that regard, so something as sloppy as that should not be left in the Bill.

Clearly, we are now on to Part 5, a really chunky part of the Bill that deserves detailed consideration. The previous Administration started this idea of bringing together the different enforcement bodies, and I think everybody is united on this. It is noteworthy that the Labour Government, in the variety of papers they have put out, say that they are going far further than any of that. That is why this needs careful consideration.

In this Bill, not only do we see significant changes in employment rights and in the scope of what is here, but, as has been pointed out, this is also a radical change in who gets to do it. As the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere, pointed out, I would be interested to find anywhere else within government—perhaps the Civil Nuclear Police and the Armed Forces—that would have this level of direct control by the Secretary of State.

That said, I will explain why I have some sympathy with the Government in how they are going about this. I am also very struck by Amendment 269, tabled by my noble friend Lady Noakes. Setting out the advice the board has given to the Secretary of State would not be unprecedented, because this is exactly what the Office for Environmental Protection does on matters involving environmental legislation. By the way, Ministers are not expected to ask—nor do they have to ask—the OEP for advice, but they can. However, the OEP can and does publish the advice that it gives, solicited or not. That open transparency, to which my noble friend Lady Noakes referred, in how these powers are being used would be welcome to give confidence in this new body. We will be debating, perhaps on Wednesday rather than today, why I think some of this is so novel. It certainly merits all that scrutiny.

More broadly, I completely understand what the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere, is saying about the extent of the powers being given. I have some sympathy and, in another group, I talk about these enforcement officers—who used to be known as labour market offence officers—and combining all these different agencies and how that comes together. For example, the Environment Agency is a regulator that has powers to investigate criminal offences. It started an investigation on 18 November 2021, and at no point would it ever brief Ministers on the progress or intimate details of that investigation. To this date, it still has not brought any charges. We recognise that the public expect somewhat more of Ministers nowadays, powers having been set out, and that it is possible for all these things to happen. If Ministers are then, effectively, locked out from what is going on in terms of this operational independence, I can understand why they are keen to have a closer relationship with what is going on.

I will explain this in more detail in the other group, but having it as an executive agency with this advisory board provides an element of scrutiny but not the independent oversight, which is why the framework to which the noble Lord, Lord Carter, refers is important in trying to get this balance in whether people are behaving themselves in applying the law. I am not suggesting that any civil servant or any enforcement officer would necessarily want to go rogue, but they would have that extra oversight, with such significant powers. Let us be candid: a Secretary of State does not have the time to go through every single assessment of every operation that would be expected under the widened scope of legislation that this new agency will be enforcing.

I have some sympathy with the noble Lord, Lord Carter, who wants to see a pretty tight grip on what is going on, but I understand why the Government have set it out in the way that they have. Nevertheless, as my noble friends on the Front Bench pointed out, that aspect of oversight is important. As has been explained, considering how small businesses will handle this gets us into pretty tricky stuff.

By the way, I fully supported the development of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. That is where a lot of the powers that may seem pretty tough in this Bill originated. How can I put it? Some people, whether in aspects of modern slavery or otherwise, can be pretty tough employers. I understand why some of what is, in effect, emergency access to offices and documents is needed: to make sure we tackle the abuse of workers. Overall, however, this is going to be a sensitive area. I encourage the Government to be as open and transparent as possible, and to consider not only the level of scrutiny but also the transparency in terms of reports—which would be, I am sure, welcomed by the Government and, candidly, by people relying on these agencies to do this work for them in the future.

[Lord Stoneham of Droxford (LD)]

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Goddard is disappointed that he is unable to speak on this group this evening. Given the multiple groups of amendments concerning the fair work agency, we will restrict our comments to this group. The Department for Business and Trade has set out the rationale for the fair work agency, suggesting the current system of employment rights enforcement is fragmented and inefficient. We agree. This fragmentation causes confusion for both workers and employers and leaves many breaches, such as underpayments, unchallenged. The Bill aims to establish the fair work agency and will consolidate existing bodies responsible for enforcement, abolishing those authorities and transferring their functions.

However, there remains some uncertainty about the agency’s precise scope and responsibilities, how it will relate to existing organisations, the level of funding it will receive, how it will access and use data, and the mechanisms for compliance and oversight. Although the Bill includes data-sharing provisions and the Minister has highlighted further detail, these issues will be key in determining the agency's effectiveness.

On powers and oversight, many enforcement powers currently held by other bodies will be transferred to the fair work agency, including powers of entry. New powers, particularly in relation to HMRC, will also be introduced. Oversight of these powers is planned to be provided through independent policing standards authorities, but it is important that the limits to these powers are clear and that they are exercised proportionately.

Regarding resourcing, it is understood that around £600 million is currently allocated across the authorities being restructured into the new agency. I am sure that discussions with the Treasury on the appropriate level of funding are ongoing, but is the Minister confident that this figure will provide the resources needed to meet the scale of the agency’s mission?

Bringing enforcement functions together in the fair work agency should improve the Government’s ability to tackle labour market abuses, including serious issues such as modern slavery. It is also acknowledged that previously, fragmented responsibilities caused confusion, duplication and ineffective enforcement, so this consolidation aims to provide a clearer, stronger enforcement framework.

I will not speak at length on the amendments put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Carter, but what he said was very wise. He raised important questions about the advisory board’s composition and enforcement powers which deserve further consideration by the Minister and the Government. Given the wide-ranging powers the agency will have—from workplace inspections to civil penalties and criminal enforcement orders—it is only right that Parliament has a clear opportunity to scrutinise how these powers will be used in practice.

Before the agency becomes operational, there should be clarity around its remit, resourcing and relationship with other enforcement bodies, and around the structures of accountability that will apply. This is particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses, which often lack the internal capacity to navigate complex regulatory frameworks. Advance scrutiny and a clear published framework would offer reassurance to both workers and employers that the agency’s approach will be proportionate and well targeted. We would welcome the Minister’s further explanation of how the Government intend to maintain transparency and accountability, to ensure balanced representation on the advisory board, and to keep Parliament informed throughout the phased implementation of the fair work agency.

Finally, I seek clarity on the Government’s timeline for the agency’s full implementation and how they plan to keep Parliament updated on progress. These are significant institutional changes and deserve close attention. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

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Moved by

[Baroness Coffey]

264ZA: Schedule 7, page 262, line 29, leave out paragraph 27
Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment seeks to probe the scope of enforcement actions.

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, we are now considering Schedule 7, which is the scope of the legislation that the enforcement officers will be considering in applying their powers and the prosecution for offences. I picked out one of the Acts that this is looking to. I will be happy to hear from the Minister, but I am interested that this is now extending into fraud.

We have gangmasters, working time, holiday pay, the question of whether the employer is keeping details of annual leave, and so on and so forth. I wonder at what point we will end up relying on this agency, which we have already heard has probably unique powers for any Secretary of State. Where is the balance between this agency and the organisation—a non-ministerial department—that we would expect to start prosecuting criminal offences in areas such as fraud, the Crown Prosecution Service? I am trying to get a sense of where this stops. I think that is also the purpose of my noble friend’s Amendment 266. We are getting into trying to work out where on earth we will be turning to. There is a combination here of investigation and being able to get lots of information, but why is the Crown Prosecution Service not involved?

I appreciate that the hour is late, but time was not given at the other end to consider the detail of this legislation. That has increasingly become the role of this House. I am concerned specifically about the Fraud Act, but there needs to be a wider conversation—I am thinking particularly of paragraph 35 of Schedule 7 —to work out at what point we hand over to the police or to the Crown Prosecution Service to investigate potential crimes.

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[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, for tabling Amendment 264ZA, which concerns the fair work agency’s remit. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe of Epsom, for Amendments 266 and 267, which seek to alter the delegated powers in Part 2 of Schedule 7.

Amendment 264ZA would seriously restrict the fair work agency’s ability to tackle labour exploitation of a more serious nature where the threshold does not meet the requirement under the Modern Slavery Act. There are no other enforcement provisions in the Bill that would cover this scenario. Currently, a number of Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority investigations have to be abandoned when the modern slavery threshold is not met. Since 2023, 104 cases have been dropped. That is bad for labour abuse victims and for taxpayers.

We are adding elements of the Fraud Act to the fair work agency’s remit precisely to address this issue. It will allow the fair work agency to investigate cases of financial fraud by abuse of position. That has specifically been included within the Bill following extensive discussions with stakeholders, including the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and the Home Office. Removing the Fraud Act offences from the fair work agency’s scope would truly limit the agency’s effectiveness, and I must therefore respectfully resist this amendment.

Amendment 266, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, would drastically narrow the scope of the power. This would undermine the very purpose of the fair work agency, which is to simplify and consolidate the enforcement of labour market legislation. The fair work agency will be greater than the sum of its parts as its remit is further expanded. This will relieve pressure on a struggling employment tribunal system, which I have heard many times from noble Lords across the aisle.

The power to expand the fair work agency’s remit has appropriate safeguards and limitations. Any expansion of its scope will be informed by the advice from the agency’s tripartite advisory board, and with consideration of the overall enforcement strategy. Furthermore, any changes to the remit will be through affirmative-resolution regulations that will be laid before Parliament and, where relevant, will require the consent of the relevant Northern Ireland department. This power is crucial to the long-term flexibility of the fair work agency. By enabling the remit to expand over time, it can respond to developments in the labour market. If we were to restrict the power to such a narrow range of issues, we would be tying our own hands.

Amendment 267, also in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe of Epsom, would require that a super-affirmative resolution procedure be used when the Secretary of State exercises the delegated power in Part 2 of Schedule 7. In my almost three years in this House when the party opposite was in government, I never heard them bring any super-affirmative resolution in any of the Bills they brought before this House, so I do not understand the sudden change of heart.

This amendment is unnecessary. The Bill provides for appropriate parliamentary scrutiny as use of this power will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. I also highlight that the recent report by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee did not raise any concern with this power as currently drafted. The additional scrutiny this amendment calls for would place unneeded burdens on parliamentary time, which is currently stretched. With this point in mind, I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw Amendment 264ZA.

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

I thank the Minister for that comprehensive response to my amendment. To be candid, if that had been in the Bill’s Explanatory Notes, it might have made life easier. As the Minister knows, the creation of this fair work agency, with the novel powers it is going to have, is one of the reasons why my noble friends on the Front Bench have been pushing for the super-affirmative procedure. We will briefly get into a bit more discussion about the advisory board, but it is those elements—recognising the novel powers—that we are concerned about. With that, I withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 264ZA withdrawn.

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Moved by

[Baroness Coffey]

266A: Schedule 7, page 264, line 21, leave out paragraph (b)

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, I will also speak to Amendments 267ZA, 267AA and 267AB in my name in this group. Schedule 7 tries to bring together a whole bunch of legislation in a meaningful and sensible way so that it can handily be used in future. I could have extended some of these amendments, but I decided to focus Amendment 266A on paragraph 35(5)(b) of Schedule 7, which relates to Clause 89 on the delegation of functions. I could have considered a whole number of these, because this is a classic Henry VIII clause—put something in primary, shove something through regulations and, hey presto, a whole Act can change before our very eyes. In particular, Clause 89(6), which I address in Amendment 267AB, stood out to me.

My concern is that we start off with this agency, the enforcement officers and all these different things, but Clause 89(1) says:

“The Secretary of State may make arrangements with a public authority”.


I do not think “a public authority” is defined anywhere else in legislation at all. This is the first time I have seen it defined, as

“a person certain of whose functions are functions of a public nature”.

That could be a whole bunch of people. What does it really mean? Are they seeking to act in the public interest, or in a different way?

The Explanatory Notes do say what they are, but, as the Minister and the Committee will know, they are not part of legislation. One of the reasons for bringing this out is to try to understand from the Minister precisely what it means. The consequence of these bits of the legislation is that, by statutory instrument, this novel area that we are getting into could be changed very quickly, away from what might have seemed a sensible agency, though I appreciate that the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere, would rather have operational independence.

This is why I have peppered through my amendments in this group the very specific point that it should be a public authority that has civil servants in it and is not a non-ministerial department. I think that there are about 24 non-ministerial departments. Perhaps really only two—the Supreme Court and the Crown Prosecution Service—should be non-ministerial, recognising the accountability that, understandably, Parliament and the public expect.

The difference of a non-ministerial department is that it is accountable to Parliament. The device to do that is principally through the Select Committee in the House of Commons, perhaps the Public Accounts Committee, not so much in the House of Lords. Therefore, significant parts of the work being done are left to an occasional accountability meeting, whereas if civil servants are not in a non-ministerial department, the Secretary of State is directly responsible and can be held to account by Parliament and can hold those civil servants to account. I am therefore very nervous about how easy it will become to change Clause 89(6) and what that then means. It would be better for the Government to have more in the Bill about what it is.

As we are starting to get into Part 5, could it be that the public authority starts to become not-for-profit groups of solicitors who start to have these enforcement functions? Could arms of trade unions suddenly start enforcing and be able do all these different elements and to take employers to court so this starts to spread? The reason for my amendments is to try to get better legislation about what this is supposed to be. I am desperately trying to make sure that the only people to whom these things can be delegated will be civil servants who honour what the Government have set out in Part 5 and that the variety of enforcement officers and the fair work agency will be directly accountable and have the executive powers of the Secretary of State. That can be done only if people are civil servants and they are not in a non-ministerial department. I beg to move.

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Coffey for her amendments that comprise this group, and I speak in support of them. They bring much needed clarity and constitutional discipline to the question of to whom the Secretary of State may delegate important public functions.

Clause 89, as drafted, grants the Secretary of State, as my noble friend has explained, broad discretion to delegate enforcement and other key responsibilities to a public authority. However, the current definition of that term is overly expansive. It could include not only departments under direct ministerial control, but also non-ministerial departments and other bodies with a degree of operational independence from the Government, which raises fundamental issues of accountability.

If enforcement powers, which could be potentially intrusive and far-reaching, are to be delegated, they should be exercised by those within the direct chain of ministerial responsibility. They are civil servants who operate under the authority of Ministers and who are, in turn, accountable to Parliament. Amendment 267ZA, therefore, rightly confines the scope of Clause 89 to public authorities that are comprised of civil servants and are not non-ministerial departments. That would ensure such functions are not handed to bodies that lack clear ministerial oversight or democratic accountability.

Amendment 267AA serves as a necessary consequential safeguard because it ensures that any legal substitution of the Secretary of State with another authority in the eyes of the statute is similarly limited to such core public bodies. Without this clarification, we risk a situation where statutory references to ministerial powers are extended, potentially without scrutiny, to entities with a more ambiguous constitutional status. This is not about casting aspersions on the competence or integrity of non-ministerial departments. Many do good work, but they are deliberately designed to operate at arm's length from Ministers. They should not be the recipients of powers that the public rightly expects to be exercised under ministerial responsibility.

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With these points in mind, I ask the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, to withdraw Amendment 266A.

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

I thank the Minister for his response. I am interested in his answer that, “Oh, well, they are already a non-departmental public body, so why am I bothered?” Well, why are the Government bothering to make this an executive agency and bring the powers under the Secretary of State? They are doing this themselves. I am struck that a lot of the legislation here is getting rid of non-departmental public bodies. By the way, they are not directly accountable to Ministers, and Ministers cannot direct them. That might satisfy the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere, but at no point did the Minister address Amendment 267AB, which talks about subsection (6). He did not address what is probably my key point in the group of amendments about the definition of a public authority. I am concerned about that and will certainly revisit it on Report. Given the late hour and that there are still two groups to go, I would be happy if the Minister would write to me and the Committee before then on that issue, as it was the key part of what I wanted to talk about. I will not trouble the Committee any further at this point and I beg leave to withdraw Amendment 266A.

Amendment 266A withdrawn.

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[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

I will speak to Amendments 272B and 272C in this group in the name of my noble friend Lord Jackson of Peterborough. I will also speak to the other amendments, particularly Amendment 272, which has just been spoken to by my noble friend Lady Noakes. She has hit the nail on the head: how often is this going to be used to go beyond what has been requested—for example, a worker not intending to take a case forward, such that it could still end up in a tribunal?

I am conscious that we will return to Clauses 113 and 114 on Wednesday, so I will be brief on Amendments 272B and 272C. Even if the Minister cannot respond today on Amendment 272C, can she say what is meant by

“any other form of assistance”?

“Legal advice” and “legal representation” are pretty well understood, but what else? There are genuine concerns about this starting to become a blank cheque for almost anything with regard to employment law. While of course the House of Lords does not have financial privilege, it is important to still be mindful of where this could go.

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Moved by

[Baroness Coffey]

267AC: Clause 90, page 108, line 38, at end insert—
“(1A) The Secretary of State must appoint a Chair of the Advisory Board who must be qualified to practice as a barrister and have been made King's Counsel.(1B) The term of the Chair’s appointment must be for a maximum of four years, with a maximum appointment of two terms, and with other conditions as may be specified by the Secretary of State.(1C) The Chair’s appointment must be approved by a relevant select committee of the House of Commons.”

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[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments 267BA, 267BB and 267D in my name. This is where we get to the composition of the board. In this group of amendments, the most important that I have tabled is probably Amendment 267D. It would remove the words “trade unions” but would insert “employees”. I am conscious that, of course, trade unions represent employees, but I was surprised by the composition of the board: that the word “employee” did not turn up as to who the members of the board were supposed to represent. To that end, one reason why I laid Amendment 267D is that we should remember that only 22% of UK workers belong to a trade union. That leaves 78% who, at the moment, may not necessarily be represented in the consideration of the advisory board. I think it is important that we rectify that.

It is possible that independent experts and others may be involved. By the way, this happens on a variety of other bodies—I think it is so on the Health and Safety Executive. Usually, the organisations representing employees are trade unions, but the point is made that it does not have to necessarily be trade unions. It could be professional associations—that has happened in the past as well, from my recollection.

In looking at the composition of the board, I noticed that my noble friends on the Front Bench have come up with a slightly different approach. Mine has tried to be pretty straightforward and to, in effect, insert an independent chair, who should be put forward to the relevant committee in the House of Commons for consideration before their appointment.

Deliberately, I have put in some specifications as to who should chair the board. Recognising that this is all going to be about enforcement of legislation, considering a wide range of issues including taking legal action when it has not been requested by people, by workers, I have specified that we should consider this board, which is going to be very important to the Secretary of State because there are a number of situations where the legislation says that the Secretary State “must” consult the advisory board. To that end, it would be worth while to have somebody who is a qualified barrister, a KC, but who shows a particular level of accomplishment without needing to look to tribunal judges or similar to chair that board. I beg to move.

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 267B, 267C and 268A standing in my name, and I also thank my noble friend Lady Coffey for introducing her amendment, and, of course, my noble friend Lady Noakes for signing them. Amendments 267B and 267C are not mere technicalities; they are a matter of principle. They are a matter of representation and ensuring that the new fair work agency advisory board truly reflects the full diversity and complexity of the modern UK labour market.

As drafted, Clause 90(4) proposes a tripartite board composed equally of individuals representing trade unions, employers and so-called independent experts. While the intention of the balance is commendable, the provision as it stands is both overly simplistic and insufficiently representative of the contemporary workface. As my noble friend highlighted, trade unions, for all their historic importance, now represent only 22.4% of employees across the United Kingdom, 12.3% of the private sector—so the bulk of those are in the public sector.

As my noble friend also pointed out, that leaves a staggering 77.6% of working people whose voices, interests and concerns are not captured through union representation. To restrict employee representation on this advisory board solely to trade union nominees is to exclude the overwhelming majority of the workforce. That is neither democratic nor representative. It is outdated.

This amendment seeks to rectify that imbalance by introducing a more inclusive and nuanced structure. It proposes that the board includes two representatives from the trade unions, rightly acknowledging their important role; three representatives of employees beyond the trade union movement, an expansion that ensures that the voices of non-unionised workers, gig economy participants, freelancers and precarious workers are also heard; five employer representatives to be appointed only after the Secretary of State has sought advice and recommendations from recognised business representative organisations, a process that will ensure that these appointments are rooted in sectoral legitimacy rather than political expediency; and three independent experts to provide critical objective insight grounded in academic, legal or practical labour market expertise. That structure would do three things. It would broaden representation, professionalise appointments and future-proof the board against the ever-evolving nature of work.

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[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, we heard from the Minister justification for keeping it as it is, but I reiterate the point that employees are not mentioned anywhere. In terms of the social partnership, it may be worth her looking at the Health and Safety Executive board in that regard. Ultimately, this should be extended to make sure it is about not just trade unions representing workers but a wider range of other bodies that do that very adequately. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 267AC withdrawn.