Viscount Trenchard (Con)

My Lords, I rise to speak briefly in support of Amendments 5 and 124, so ably spoken to by my noble friend Lady Noakes, and well supported by the noble Lord, Lord Londesborough. I also support Amendment 282, which I expect will be addressed by my noble friend Lord Sharpe or my noble friend Lord Hunt. The impact on the smallest businesses will, as stated by my noble friend Lady Noakes, be great. The cost to business of implementing the Bill could be as much as £5 billion, according to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch. She said that this would be a transfer to the lowest-paid segment of the workforce. I do not think that that would be the result. My noble friends’ amendments would mitigate the stifling effect on small businesses that the Bill will have. Small and micro-businesses are already struggling with the additional costs of the increases in employers’ national insurance contributions introduced two weeks ago. It is small and micro-businesses that most need flexibility in the nature of the employment models they can offer workers. Putting such businesses into a straitjacket will remove employment opportunities for many of those who prefer flexible-hours contracts, and even for the many young people who actually quite like zero-hours contracts, or who would at least rather that such opportunities existed than not—which will otherwise be the consequence of enacting the Bill. My noble friend Lady Lawlor spoke convincingly on this matter in the previous group. Part 1 of the Bill will prevent many small businesses taking the risks inherent in adding a new business line or expanding the size of their operations. I hope that the Minister will carefully consider the strong arguments made for the exemption of small and micro-businesses from these measures. In that way, the Government might achieve their declared aim of transferring value to the lowest-paid segment of the workforce.