– in a Public Bill Committee am ar 19 Mehefin 2012.
Before we begin, I have a few preliminary announcements. First, Members may remove their jackets during sittings if they wish. Please will all Members ensure that mobile phones, pagers and such like are turned off or switched to silent mode during sittings? I should also tell Members that as a general rule, I and my fellow Chair do not intend to call starred amendments, which have not been tabled with adequate notice. The required notice period in Public Bill Committees is three working days, so amendments should be tabled by the rise of the House on Monday for consideration on Thursday, and by the rise of the House on Thursday for consideration on Tuesday.
Not everyone is familiar with the process of taking oral evidence in Public Bill Committees, so it may help if I briefly explain how we will proceed. The Committee will first be asked to consider the programme motion on the amendment paper, for which debate is limited to half an hour. We will then proceed to a motion to report written evidence, and then to a motion to permit the Committee to deliberate in private before the oral evidence sessions—I hope we can take those motions formally. Assuming that the second motion is agreed to, the Committee will move into private session. Once it has deliberated, witnesses and members of the public will be invited back into the room and our oral evidence session will begin. If the Committee agrees the programme motion, it will hear oral evidence this morning.
That—
(1) the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 10.30 am on Tuesday 19 June) meet—
(a) at 4.00 pm on Tuesday 19 June;
(b) at 9.00 am on Thursday 21 June;
(c) at 10.30 am and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 26 June;
(d) at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm on Thursday 28 June;
(e) at 10.30 am and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 3 July;
(f) at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm on Thursday 5 July;
(g) at 10.30 am and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 10 July;
(h) at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm on Thursday 12 July;
(i) at 10.30 am and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 17 July;
(2) the Committee shall hear oral evidence in accordance with the following Table:
TABLE
Witness
Tuesday 19 June
Until no later than 11.15 am
Confederation of British Industry; EEF; Institute of Directors
Tuesday 19 June
Until no later than 11.45 am
British Chambers of Commerce; Federation of Small Businesses
Tuesday 19 June
Until no later than 1.00 pm
Trades Union Congress; Unite; GMB
Tuesday 19 June
Until no later than 4.45 pm
Association of British Insurers; Hermes Equity Ownership Services Ltd.; National Association of Pension Funds
Tuesday 19 June
Until no later than 5.45 pm
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; Free Representation Unit; Public Concern at Work; Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
Tuesday 19 June
Until no later than 6.15 pm
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Thursday 21 June
Until no later than 9.30 am
Citizens Advice; Professor Sir John Vickers (Warden, All Souls College, Oxford)
Thursday 21 June
Until no later than 10.25 am
Law Society; Law Society of Scotland; Allen and Overy LLP; Simpson Millar LLP
Thursday 21 June
Until no later than 11.25 am
Malcolm Nicholson (Reporting Panel Member, Competition Commission); City of London Law Society; Professor Catherine Waddams (Professor of Regulation, University of East Anglia)
Thursday 21 June
Until no later than 12 noon
Renewable UK; E3G; Friends of the Earth
Thursday 21 June
Until no later than 1.15 pm
Local Government Association; Trading Standards Institute; West Yorkshire Joint Services; British Retail Consortium
Thursday 21 June
Until no later than 2.15 pm
Sir David Walker (author of ‘Walker Review of Corporate Governance of UK Banking Industry’); High Pay Centre; Adrian Beecroft (author of Beecroft report on employment law)
(3) proceedings on consideration of the Bill in Committee shall be taken in the following order: Clauses 1 to 7; Schedule 1; Clause 8; Schedule 2; Clauses 9 to 13; Schedule 3; Clauses 14 to 18; Schedule 4; Clause 19; Schedules 5 and 6; Clause 20; Clause 24; Schedule 8; Clauses 21 and 22; Schedule 7; Clause 23; Clauses 25 and 26; Schedule 9; Clause 30; Schedule 12; Clause 28; Schedule 11; Clause 27; Schedule 10; Clause 29; Clauses 31 to 33; Schedule 13; Clauses 34 to 43; Schedule 14; Clauses 44 to 47; Schedule 15; Clauses 48 to 50; Schedule 16; Clauses 51 to 54; Schedule 17; Clauses 55 to 63; new Clauses, new Schedules; remaining proceedings on the Bill;
(4) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 8.00 pm on Tuesday 17 July.—(Norman Lamb.)
On behalf of Her Majesty’s Opposition, I welcome every hon. Member to the Committee. I particularly welcome you, Mr Brady. I am sure that you will keep us all in order.
We had a good debate on Second Reading, in which we started to expose the weaknesses in the Bill and the poverty of ideas on facilitating economic growth and enterprise. Many hon. Members described it as a rag-tag of a Bill, and I agree. It will be difficult to scrutinise its different aspects properly in the time that we have, especially if the Government table amendments that substantially extend or alter its scope. In the Programming Sub-Committee meeting, I told the Minister that we would not be happy if he introduced amendments that would substantially alter the Bill’s scope and we did not have time to debate them. He kindly said that we could extend the sittings into the evening and, if possible, through the night. Hon. Members will be delighted to hear that, and we will certainly hold him to it. On that basis, and bearing in mind my reservations, the Opposition are happy to support the programme motion.
I thank the Opposition spokesman for his generous comments on the Bill—starting as he means to go on. I think I do not need to respond other than to confirm that if extra time is needed, we will be happy to sit for longer in the sittings that have been set.
Copies of memorandums the Committee receives will be made available in the Committee room.