House of Commons Amendments

Session 2014 - 15
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

99

House of Commons

Thursday 23 October 2014

Public Bill Committee

New Amendments handed in are marked thus

Amendments which will comply with the required notice period at their next appearance

Small Business, Enterprise and

Employment Bill

Note

The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the

Committee [14 October 2014].

Ian Murray

Mr Iain Wright

Toby Perkins

Clause  15,  page  16,  line  17,  at end insert—

“(cA)
an assessment of whether and, if necessary, the extent to which, any

business, having challenged a regulator, has been discriminated against

thereafter as a consequence.

(cB)
recommendations for mitigating steps to be taken if an assessment

mentioned in paragraph (cA) concludes that discrimination has taken

place.”

Matthew Hancock

Jo Swinson

Clause  16,  page  17,  line  24,  leave out from beginning to “subject” and insert

“Regulations under this section are”.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment corrects a drafting error (it is the regulations themselves that are subject to

Public Bill Committee:
100

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affirmative resolution procedure and not the power to make them).

Ian Murray

Mr Iain Wright

Toby Perkins

Clause  23,  page  22,  line  34,  at end insert—

“(aA)
lay a statement of each amended thing before each House of Parliament

to be approved by affirmative resolution procedure before the

amendment is implemented;”

Ian Murray

Mr Iain Wright

Toby Perkins

Clause  29,  page  25,  line  26,  at end insert—

“(1A)
Prior to secondary legislation making or amending the regulatory provision

coming into force, the review set out in sections 25 to 28 and this section shall be

subject to public consultation with specific reference to the views of businesses,

business organisations, civic organisations and trades unions, and any such other

organisation which the Secretary of State considers to be appropriate.”

Toby Perkins

Mr Iain Wright

Ian Murray

Clause  30,  page  26,  line  7,  after “business””, insert ““medium-sized business”,

“large business” or “super corporate””.

Matthew Hancock

Jo Swinson

Clause  30,  page  26,  line  9,  leave out subsections (2) and (3) and insert—

“(2)
In the underlying provision “small business” means an undertaking other than a

micro business (see subsection (3)) which meets the following conditions (“the

small business size conditions”)—

(a)
it has a headcount of staff of less than 50, and

(b)
it has—

(i)
a turnover, or

(ii)
a balance sheet total,


of an amount less than or equal to the small business threshold.

(3)
In the underlying provision “micro business” means an undertaking which meets

the following conditions (“the micro business size conditions”)—

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(a)
it has a headcount of staff of less than 10, and

(b)
it has—

(i)
a turnover, or

(ii)
a balance sheet total,


of an amount less than or equal to the micro business threshold.

( )
The Secretary of State may by regulations (referred to as “the small and micro

business regulations”) make further provision about the meanings of “small

business” and “micro business”.

( )
This section and the small and micro business regulations are to be read subject

to any modifications made by the underlying provision in any particular case.”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment defines “small business” and “micro business” by reference to staff headcount

and other conditions set out in subsections (2) and (3), replacing the previous definition referring

to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC. It also gives the Secretary of State power to make

regulations further defining these terms.

Toby Perkins

Mr Iain Wright

Ian Murray

Clause  30,  page  26,  leave out lines 10 to 18 and insert—

““Micro business” means a business with 1-9 employees

“Small business” means a business with 10-49 employees

“Medium-sized business” means a business with 50-249 employees

“Large business” means a business with 250-1000 employees

“Super corporate” means a business with over 1000 employees”.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment proposes to create a total of five definitions in UK law based on the measure of

employee head count.

Matthew Hancock

Jo Swinson

Clause  30,  page  26,  line  19,  at end insert—

““balance sheet total”, “headcount of staff”, “micro business threshold”,

“small business threshold” and “turnover” have such meanings as may be

prescribed by the small and micro business regulations;”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment stipulates that particular terms used in amendment 22 (such as “headcount of

staff” and “turnover“) are to be defined in regulations made by the Secretary of State.

Matthew Hancock

Jo Swinson

Clause  30,  page  26,  line  23,  at end insert—

““undertaking” means—

(a)
a person carrying on one or more businesses;

(b)
a voluntary or community body within the meaning given by

section 24;

(c)
a body which is formed or recognised under the law of a country

or territory outside the United Kingdom and which is equivalent

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in nature to a body falling within the definition of voluntary or

community body.

( )
The small and micro business regulations are subject to negative resolution

procedure.”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment defines “undertaking” as used in the definitions of “small” and “micro”

business. Undertakings comprise individuals, companies, and other entities carrying on business

and voluntary or community bodies (defined in clause 24) and foreign equivalents. It also applies

the negative procedure to regulations under amendments 22 and 23.

Debbie Abrahams

Clause  33,  page  28,  line  40,  at end insert—

“(a1)
duties to establish the past payment performance of potential parties to a

contract, before contracts are entered into;

(a2)
duties to ensure contracts entered into include the contractors’

obligations for prompt payment of their suppliers.”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment aims to ensure that the payment performance of potential contractors are known

before contracts are entered into and that contracts entered into require companies providing

goods and services to public sector contracting authorities to pay their own suppliers promptly.

Ian Murray

Mr Iain Wright

Toby Perkins

Clause  33,  page  29,  line  8,  at end insert—

“(eA)
duties relating to the assessment and publication of the extent to which

apprenticeships and training opportunities were provided as a result of

procurement of contracting authorities.

(eB)
duties to publish reports about the amount and proportions of expenditure

within procurement undertaken by a contracting authority in relation

to—

(i)
small and medium-sized enterprises; and

(ii)
the area local to the contracting authority.

(eC)
duties to disclose and explain any reasons why specified business or

company, or specified category of business or company, may be

excluded from consideration by a contracting authority, and

(eD)
duties to publish information about the allocation, draw down, usage,

sub-contracting or other third-party deployment, and results of the

consumption of public resources by private entities.”

Ian Murray

Mr Iain Wright

Toby Perkins

Clause  33,  page  29,  line  16,  leave out “negative” and insert “affirmative”

Public Bill Committee:
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Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  36,  page  31,  line  1,  leave out subsection (4).

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  36,  page  31,  line  2,  leave out “large”

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  36,  page  31,  line  2,  leave out “also”

Andrew Griffiths

Clause  36,  page  31,  line  11,  leave out subsection (5)(b)(ii)

Andrew Griffiths

Clause  36,  page  31,  line  18,  leave out “their tied pub tenants” and insert “such

assessments”

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  36,  page  31,  line  20,  leave out “large”

Public Bill Committee:
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Andrew Griffiths

Oliver Colvile

Clause  37,  page  31,  line  45,  at end insert—

“(5A)
Changes to the Pubs Code pursuant to section 37 shall be made by order. Such an

order is subject to affirmative resolution procedure.”

Andrew Griffiths

Clause  38,  page  32,  line  15,  leave out from “(i)” to end of line 17 and insert “only

apply to new agreements or at agreed break points such as rent reviews within current

agreements”

Andrew Griffiths

Clause  42,  page  34,  line  43,  after “vexatious”, insert “or unsubstantiated”

Andrew Griffiths

Clause  49,  page  36,  line  41,  at end insert “or

(c)
the basis and reasoning behind the decision to impose a penalty.”

Andrew Griffiths

Clause  50,  page  37,  line  20,  after “merit”, insert “or unsubstantiated”

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  60,  page  41,  line  4,  leave out “and large “pub-owning business””

Public Bill Committee:
105

, continued

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  60,  page  41,  leave out lines 5 and 6.

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  60,  page  41,  line  6,  leave out “one” and insert “500”

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  60,  page  41,  line  8,  leave out “pub-owning”

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  60,  page  41,  line  8,  leave out “large”

Sheryll Murray

Andrew Griffiths

Anne Marie Morris

Richard Fuller

Sir Hugh Robertson

Stephen Gilbert

Oliver Colvile

Clause  60,  page  41,  line  12,  leave out “pub-owning”



© Parliamentary copyright	Revised 23 October 2014