§ Mr. TrippierI beg to move amendment No. 59, in page 32, line 4 at end insert—
'(1A) Unless it appears to the Secretary of State to be inappropriate in all the circumstances for this sub-paragraph to apply to the wages council—In Committee my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Mr. Fallon) tabled an amendment to schedule 2 designed to ensure that the voice of small businesses had a chance to be heard when important decisions affecting their prosperity, and even their survival in some instances, were being discussed in their wages council. My hon. Friend withdrew his amendment on the understanding that we would table another with the correct technical wording to cover the point that he made. The hon. Member for Bow and Poplar (Mr. Mikardo) was very supportive of the amendment.
- (a) the employers' association nominated by him for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(a), or
- (b) where two or more employers' associations are so nominated, at least one of those associations, shall be an employers' association appearing to him to be representative of small businesses within the scope of operation of the wages council.'.
As the Secretary of State does not normally appoint employers' or workers' representatives himself—it would not be appropriate for him to do so in most cases—the way in which to secure the result intended is to 918 ensure that at least one of the associations that he nominates to appoint employers' representatives on the council is truly representative of small firms.
The amendment is without prejudice to the fact that on many councils there are already representatives of associations which claim to represent small businesses or to represent both large and small businesses—some do both. My hon. Friend's point was extremely well made and accepted by the vast majority of, if not all, members of the Committee. I undertook to table another amendment, and that is the reason for the amendment. I hope that the House will accept it.
§ Mr. Michael Fallon (Darlington)On behalf of Conservative Members, I thank my hon. Friend for fulfilling the undertaking that he gave in Committee. My amendment commended itself across the Committee. I was grateful for the support that I received, especially from the hon. Member for Bow and Poplar (Mr. Mikardo).
My hon. Friend the Minister took away my amendment, and I notice that his amendment expresses the effect of my amendment in about 50 words, whereas I struggled to contain it within only eight. However, it would be wrong to carp at this stage of the proceedings.
This is a small but important point. The amendment means that from now on small businesses will have a watchdog on each wages council, able to speak directly to the heart of Government on the way in which wages councils and their orders operate. This applies not just to the larger companies that are covered by wages council legislation, but to the very small—the one-man or two-man family business. I am particularly pleased with this provision.
§ Amendment agreed to.