The hon. Lady is slightly over-egging this. It is not that difficult to keep the records that are required in this case. As I have tried to say, we will ensure that the regulations are not over-burdensome. We want to make absolutely sure that the information  is very straightforward and simple. I do not accept that it will be significantly burdensome, as I think the hon. Lady said, to retain records of this type, even for small employers. From my knowledge of small employers, they are already retaining quite a lot of information. This will not be a completely new and isolated requirement that is imposed on them. It will not be much out of line with requirements that they are already fulfilling. I want to stress that we are trying to make this straightforward for employers, including small employers, since they would be holding the information in the format that the regulator needs. The common standards of holding information will also make things easier, because the employers will understand what they have to hold and how they have to hold it. The regulator, on receiving the information, could judge more easily whether the employers in question have or have not been compliant.

The regulations, which set out the details of the record-keeping duties, will of course be subject to consultation. Those covered by the regulations will have every opportunity to give their views on how the regulations should be set out. We recognise that the intention of the amendment is to give employers flexibility in how they keep the required records, but it would give too much flexibility, with no boundaries, which is what we intend the regulations to prescribe. Furthermore, as tabled, the amendment would conflict with the power in clause 40(1). That subsection gives the Secretary of State the power to specify the forms in which records must be kept. The amendment would allow employers to choose for themselves how to keep their records, so long as it was somehow in keeping with the concept of reasonableness. On those grounds, I hope that the hon. Member for South-West Bedfordshire will agree to withdraw the amendment.