Speeches by Madders.

“I am grateful to the shadow Minister for not rehearsing the arguments, as we may end up having them every five minutes, given the number of technical amendments we will deal with today. He raises an important question about the enforcement powers and powers of entry. There are a number of clauses that deal with that. M…”

“I beg to move amendment 84, in clause 72, page 79, line 15, at end insert— “(4A) Accordingly, in the case of the exercise by an enforcement officer of an enforcement function of the Secretary of State, any reference in an enactment to the Secretary of State in connection with that function is to be read as, or as inclu…”

“Schedule 6 outlines consequential amendments to other existing legislation. It ensures consistency with the new provisions introduced by the Bill, which is important to make our legislative framework cohesive and functional. Amendment 101 ensures textual consistency by removing the italic heading before section 13 of t…”

“I beg to move amendment 101, in schedule 6, page 133, line 7, at end insert “and the italic heading before that section.” This amendment makes a further consequential amendment to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.”

“The clause introduces schedules 6 and 7, which make consequential amendments and transitional provisions required to deliver this change. Schedule 6 sets out consequential amendments we are making to various Acts of Parliament as a result of these reforms. Part 1 of schedule 6 covers the consequential amendments to exi…”

“I welcome the shadow Minister’s commitment to workers’ rights; it seems that listening to me for several weeks has finally rubbed off on him. At this stage, it would be premature for me to say that we intend for any redundancies to transpire. The clear presumption, as we move forward, is that all existing staff will tr…”

“Our aim is that the fair work agency will bring together existing state enforcement functions in one place. Delivering this aim means abolishing two existing bodies involved in enforcement of workers’ rights—the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and the Director of Labour Market Enforcement—and transferring their …”

“The first thing to say is that the new clause came at the request of the security services, so it is not a whim on the Department’s part, and it applies specifically to the offence under clause 103 of providing false information. It would be rather rash of me to start talking about situations in which that might apply.…”

“The clause ensures that intelligence service information is disclosed to the fair work agency only in accordance with intelligence service disclosure arrangements and cannot be shared by the fair work agency without authorisation from the appropriate service chief. In the course of investigating some employment rights …”

“When carrying out investigatory and enforcement activity, the enforcement officers will need to obtain information relevant to the Secretary of State’s enforcement functions. That is why clause 98(2) permits the disclosure of information to the Secretary of State or an enforcement officer if the disclosure is made in c…”

“I beg to move amendment 175, in clause 101, page 95, line 11, leave out from “person” to end of line 12 and insert “to disclose information to an enforcing authority where— (a) the person is serving in an intelligence service, or (b) the information is intelligence service information.” This amendment would provide tha…”

“The shadow Minister raises some fair points. I commend him for the work he does on the loan charge, and that all-party group is important. Certainly, HMRC’s functions in terms of the fair work agency will be focused on national minimum wage enforcement. I do not think that that is an area where we have some of the diff…”

“Data from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will be crucial for the investigation and enforcement of many different employment rights beyond the national minimum wage, which HMRC is specifically tasked to enforce on behalf of the Secretary of State. However, much of HMRC’s data is understandably confidential, and it is…”

“I will not detain the Committee long. Schedule 5 is the list of bodies with which information can be shared, which obviously now includes the Pensions Ombudsman. As I have indicated, any further bodies would need to be added to the list by affirmative regulations.”

“The shadow Minister lays down a challenge for me. On the Pensions Ombudsman—I will certainly write to him if anything occurs to me after consultation with officials—it is not unusual for an individual’s payslip or contract to indicate that pension deductions have been made, when they have not actually reached the appro…”

“This is a large grouping again, and I will turn first to Government amendments 97 to 100. Open, two-way information sharing with the regulator is what clause 98 and schedule 5 are all about. These amendments add Scottish health bodies to schedule 5, which will support those bodies in fulfilling their functions. This ha…”

“I beg to move amendment 97, in schedule 5, page 130, line 22, at end insert— “The Pensions Ombudsman.” This amendment would enable information obtained in connection with the exercise of enforcement functions under Part 5 of the Bill to be disclosed to the Pensions Ombudsman for the purposes of the Ombudsman’s function…”

“Clause 105 applies the offences in part 5 of the Bill to corporate bodies. It is a standard clause that can be found in predecessor legislation, such as section 27 of the Immigration Act 2016. The clause ensures accountability at both the organisational and individual levels, and practicality in legislation. It makes c…”

“Clause 102 addresses the need for accountability and compliance with labour market enforcement orders. It creates a clear offence of failing to adhere to a labour market enforcement order without reasonable excuse, sending a strong message that non-compliance will not be tolerated. The clause ports over the existing of…”

“Ah!”