Bill Esterson
MP for Sefton Central · Labour · United Kingdom
“As the Prime Minister said on Tuesday, our energy supply and our energy security are not a question of having either oil and gas, or renewables; they are about both. It is a great pity that proper process was not followed in 2022 or 2023. [ Interruption.”
“I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to continuing Britain’s global leadership on climate action, including by going to COP31. I also welcome his focus on breathing space for people and businesses, but, as he said, it will take a lot more than that to deliver the growth and reindustrialisation that he is so committed to.”
“Last week the Committee heard from Claire Dykta, the director of strategy and policy at NESO, who told us: “Operational decisions are taken by authorised, trained personnel only.” Her comments were confirmed by Alastair Martin, the chief strategy officer at Flexitricity, who, in the same session, said: “I do not think the idea that the he…”
“As the Minister has just said, new nuclear is essential for energy security. It is also essential as an alternative career for workers in oil and gas.”
“Paul and Susan Robinson each worked for the Health and Safety Executive for more than 40 years. They have not been able to plan for their retirement since finishing work last year; they have been living off their savings and the small loan that they have had. They are typical of the dozens of constituents who have contacted me.”
“Hudson primary school in my constituency does a brilliant job. It is a family hub, it specialises in support for children with SEND and autism, and it has a nursery, but its building, which is 80 years old, suffers from a high water table that brings damp, mould and structural problems for the building—as does occasional flooding.”
The complete record
Every one of 4,882 lines we hold for Bill Esterson, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 63 of 98.
“They are hiding behind the false devolution argument to deliver complete liberalisation by the back door and pursue their ideological ambitions over workable public policy. I hope that on Report, Government Members can persuade Ministers that it is a mistake and that they should rethink, go back to the drawing board and withdraw the proposal.”
“It is important to remember that this is a Lords Bill and the first time we are debating this matter is in the Commons. The Government have not made a credible case, economically or socially, for a change to Sunday trading laws, so much so that the Government consultation process has used outdated and misrepresented data to form a credible case for reform. Consumers, small businesses, large businesses, high streets, shop workers and faith groups support the compromise we have now. A change is not wanted or needed. The Government’s own Back Benchers are divided on the issue and, as such, the Government have chosen to award the Bill the smallest amount of time for scrutiny in Parliament. The Government are running scared from debating Sunday trading, which is why it was left so late.”
“In a world of increasing commodification, the space for shared time and activities, central to human flourishing is becoming ever more rare. Increased Sunday opening hours will only exacerbate this trend. I hope the Government will reflect and think again.” I am sure the strength of feeling from church and faith groups will be replicated in the other place, where the Enterprise Bill started without the Sunday trading proposals included. It was the Enterprise Bill. It was not the Enterprise and Sunday Trading Bill, which it will become after the amendment goes through. The Lords did not have time to discuss Sunday trading or to examine it in detail in Grand Committee or on Report. This is the first time it is being debated.”
“For these reasons the Government’s so-called protections will mean little or nothing in practice.” The protections for shop workers are not enough to prevent businesses from abusing their dominance to force shop workers to work for longer, and that will be exacerbated under the Government’s proposals. Church and faith groups are strongly opposed to the Government’s reforms and are equally frustrated by the Government’s consultation process. The Bishop of St Albans, the right reverend Dr Alan Smith, recently said: “The Government response makes no compelling case for improved economic or social benefits and will do nothing to dissuade those who are concerned that the policy will damage family and community life…Most fundamentally the consultation response neglects to recognise the social value of a shared day for community and family life.”
“There is immense pressure on retail staff to work on Sundays. Even in workplaces with trade union reps to support members, over a third of those who try to opt out of Sunday working are unable to, and even more are prevented by pressure from even trying to use the opt-out. Longer Sundays will make the pressure worse, and the changes in the opt-out will not prevent staff from being pressured into working more on Sundays, making them lose even more precious family time. John Hannett, the general secretary of USDAW, says: “Many shopworkers find they are unable to use the current Sunday opt-out due to pressure from management and the possible loss of working hours, which most cannot afford.”
“The argument being made by Opposition Members, trade unions and shop workers is that it is about a level playing field and fairness. The survey by USDAW found that 28% of those who tried to opt out of Sunday working in large stores had been unable to. In small stores, the figure rose to 38%, reflecting the longer opening hours and greater pressure to work. The hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds was referring to smaller stores. That is a difficult reality for the staff as well as for the business owners. The point is to try to balance those two as much as possible. Overall, for every two staff who are able to use the opt-out, only one is successful. In the vast majority of retail workplaces where there is no union organisation or support, the proportion of staff unable to use the opt-out will be far higher.”
“I do not think any of us were suggesting going back to the 1980s and the deindustrialisation and destruction of industry that happened under the Thatcher Government. [Hon. Members: “Oh!”] In the current environment, we have an agreed compromise. That is what the Opposition are trying to protect. It is an agreed compromise between small businesses, staff, families and faith groups. It has widespread public support and the only people who seem to want to change it are those with interests in large businesses and those who feel they will have no choice other than to support it because of the domino effect around the country. USDAW’s research has found that, even in workplaces with trade union reps to support members, many staff are pressured into not using the Sunday opt-out.”
“In a similar vein, a number of us have mentioned the Prime Minister’s 20 April promise through his spokeswoman, before the general election, that there were no plans to change the Sunday trading laws in England and Wales. Will the Minister tell us when the Prime Minister changed his mind, or was it only a meaningless pre-election promise intended to get him through the last two weeks of the general election campaign?”
“Throughout the process, we have called for the remit of the small business commissioner to be broadened and for the commissioner to have the resources at his or her disposal to fulfil the ambitions that we all have for the post. We want the commissioner to be given the powers to deliver real change to the crippling culture of late payments and poor business practice. We have repeatedly used the example of the Australian small business commissioner, because it is a good model and we stand to learn a good deal from it. New clause 15 is an attempt to make sure that the powers that we believe ought to be put in place now are at least fast-tracked for the small business commissioner, by keeping a weather eye on and learning from the experience of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.”
“That is why there has been only one investigation in two years, as good as that investigation clearly was. She has made it clear that she cannot cover the suppliers in the supply chain. As it stands, we will be putting more pressure on the small business commissioner, because the volume of potential activity is even greater. We need to learn the lessons and that is what the new clause is about. If the Government will not change the Bill, we should at least try to speed up the process of evolving the role to meet the challenges that the small business commissioner will face. I hope the Government will learn and apply the lessons from the first years of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.”
“With the small business commissioner, we are looking at a similarly small team taking responsibility for an estimated 390,000 disputes from 70,000 businesses. We had an impact assessment for the creation of the small business commissioner. It is a shame, is it not, that we did not have one for Sunday trading. The impact assessment for the small business commissioner estimated that the commissioner’s team would deal with only 500 complaints out of the estimated 390,000 disputes every year. From the experience and comments of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, we know that she is understaffed. She has made it clear that she was given a small office and spends much of her time just explaining what she can and cannot do, and is left with little time to actually deliver.”
“When the position of Groceries Code Adjudicator was created, concerns were raised about its ability to fulfil the Government’s ambitions for it, because it was given too few staff and resources to deliver effective change. Let us remember that the Groceries Code Adjudicator works only three days a week and has only five staff, who are responsible for 7,000 direct suppliers and a further 300,000 indirect suppliers. As we have pointed out, it is clear from the Australian model that this could well be a cause of problems in the UK. The Groceries Code Adjudicator is another reference point from which we can learn, as she is an adjudicator working part-time with five staff responsible for so many suppliers.”
“When it comes to providing greater powers for the commissioner, we can learn lessons from the Groceries Code Adjudicator. In January 2015, the then coalition Government announced that they would give the Groceries Code Adjudicator the ability to fine supermarkets 1% of their annual turnover for serious breaches of the grocery code. This was a recognition that the adjudicator needed to back up their influence with greater powers, but it took almost two years after the creation of the post to ensure that those powers were available. The new clause would avoid repeating that delay as we create the post of the small business commissioner. It would ensure that the commissioner’s office has the powers needed to do the job from day one by learning from the experience of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.”
“The new clause is a simple way of saying that we did not get it quite right in 2013 and that we have an opportunity to learn valuable lessons now. We ought to ensure that those lessons are taken on board at the appropriate stage, which is in this Bill. On confidentiality, we have said repeatedly, here and in the Lords, that if small businesses complain about big businesses that are their customers, they risk damaging their business relationships. Now, the Groceries Code Adjudicator has said that a lack of trust is a barrier to suppliers who might have complaints. Lord Mendelsohn cited that as a key area of concern. Without robust provisions for confidentiality and without learning from the experience of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, we will be doomed to repeat those deficiencies with the small business commissioner.”
“New clause 15 seeks to acknowledge that there will be considerable concern about the Groceries Code Adjudicator, which was set up in 2013, and the small business commissioner, when it is established, presumably later this year, and the extent of their powers, the breadth of their remit and the teeth they have to deliver in their sectors. I appreciate that the general review of the Groceries Code Adjudicator is expected this year. We are asking in the new clause for a specific investigation of the adjudicator’s role, which is particularly relevant to the Bill because of the relationship with the small business commissioner. The review we are asking for is to learn from the first years of the Groceries Code Adjudicator so that we can apply those lessons to the post of the small business commissioner.”
“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. We debated some elements of the Groceries Code Adjudicator as part of our lengthy discussions about the creation of the small business commissioner a long time ago—two and a bit weeks ago, at the start of our proceedings. There is a great deal of overlap in the nature and aims of the adjudicator and the commissioner. Both were created to give a voice to smaller suppliers in their dealings with larger companies and both were designed to address the imbalance in those relationships.”
“I am grateful to the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun for his reminder of some of the issues, challenges and experiences of those who have sought help from the GCA in the last two years, and of the need for greater support and resource for the office of the GCA. The reason for the new clause was to draw the parallels between the adjudicator and the commissioner. I acknowledged in my opening remarks that the review was already taking place, but it is important to have debates such as this to get the Minister on the record, as we have done a few times in Committee, and she has now made clear what will happen.”
“As success comes in large part from the relationship between the Government and the trade unions, in order to do the Magnox workers justice, the Minister should have made it a priority to meet their trade union before we got to this point in Committee. It is a great pity that she did not.”
“The Minister is right that constituency MPs have a crucial role in discussing with Ministers the impact of legislation on their constituents. Workers in the nuclear industry who are extremely worried, with good reason, about the proposals in the Bill are rightly being represented by their Members of Parliament and by members of the Committee. Indeed, representations were made on Second Reading and will be made on Report in two weeks’ time. The Minister made comments about the pressures on her diary, but I gently say to her that partnership between Government, business and the workforce, especially through its trade union representation, is a hallmark of successful economies.”
“I want to make a few remarks as the Minister did not allow me to intervene earlier. My hon. Friend the Member for Wakefield made a point about consistency and the treatment of workers, whether they are senior bank executives or Magnox workers. Reasonable people might expect similar and decent treatment from the Government, whether they work in a bank, in decommissioning in the nuclear industry, or anywhere else. That is the grave concern about some of what we have heard and about the clauses tabled by the Government, which we want to amend. I tried to intervene on the Minister’s comments on trade unions. I do not doubt her desire to engage with trade unions or her understanding of the importance of talking to the trade unions.”
“How does the Minister envisage the rules being enforced? One concern that has been expressed is that the Government can legislate all they want on these sorts of things, but in the end it comes down to the balance of the relationship and whether anyone is prepared to challenge their employer. When a law has been broken, it comes down to whether anything meaningful—anything with teeth—can be applied. How will it work and how realistic are the proposals?”
“Well, it is an incredibly important point. I was talking about the penalties. How likely is it that the rules will be enforced and the penalties used? We are told that there has been an impact assessment, but it has not been published yet, so we are in the dark as to just how effective the remedies are going to be.”
“Finally, we have the long-anticipated debate on Sunday trading. Until the eve of Committee stage, uncertainty reigned as to whether we would be debating it at all—as it was, of course, only the week before that the Secretary of State had announced that Sunday trading would be part of the Bill. From what the Minister just said, it seems that the new clause might be more correctly called the “Harrods clause”, given that Knightsbridge is the only part of the country he could cite where there is support from the high street for the Government’s proposals.”
“In fact, it was so late that Members who oppose changes to Sunday trading did not even know the Bill would consider it. I spoke to a number of Members on the Government Benches on the day of Second Reading and they had no idea that the issue was in the Bill because they were not in the Chamber to hear the Secretary of State mention it in his opening speech. Had they been, they could have made their opposition clear and raised their concerns but there was no such opportunity for Government Members. That is a great shame.”
“The country as a whole should have trusted what we were told on 20 April. The Government knew this would be opposed and were that worried about it that they went so far as to reassure the country before the election that they had no plans to change Sunday trading laws. They knew it would be opposed, cause problems and break the consensus that had stood for 22 years, since the Sunday Trading Act 1994. The amendments we are considering include a change to the name of the Bill in amendment 77, as the Minister has just said, to include Sunday trading. We have to wonder what is going on when a Bill started in the Lords and went through the entire Lords proceedings without any mention of Sunday trading. Only on Second Reading in this House was Sunday trading mentioned.”
“The Prime Minister’s spokeswoman wrote on 20 April last year to the campaign group Keep Sunday Special assuring them that the Conservatives had no plans to relax Sunday trading laws. Indeed, it was not in the Conservative party manifesto. She wrote: “I can assure you that we have no current plans to relax the Sunday trading laws. We believe that the current system provides a reasonable balance between those who wish to see more opportunity to shop in large stores on a Sunday, and those who would like to see further restrictions.” There we have it. Presumably, in the Conservative party, the Government and the previous coalition Government, when the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson spoke it was on his behalf and we should take as gospel what she said at the time.”
“The problem is that, when talking to local authority leaders and chief executives, as some organisations have done, one main reason given for saying they may well end up implementing these provisions is that they feel they have no choice. Their neighbours having allowed Tesco, Asda or out-of-town shopping centres to have extended opening hours on a Sunday, they fear that loss of trade within their own boundaries will force them down the route of using these provisions in their own local authority area. The Government knew full well that any attempt to reform Sunday trading legislation would spark significant debate and opposition from a wide range of stakeholders.”
“Those are points I will come to. I did not know that Harrods had a shop in the Minister’s constituency or that it contained the Knightsbridge of the east. The other description might have been the “domino clause”. The Minister talked about local leaders having the opportunity. The Opposition fully support the proper devolution of powers and responsibilities, and the ability to make a difference in the local area. Although he talked about local leaders, he did not talk about the views of the local community, the workers affected or the small independent retailers and the impact the proposals will have on many small shops.”
“The Minister wants to keep us on the clause, but it is actually very wide-ranging. On line 22, proposed new section 13A, “Improvement of electronic communications networks and services etc”, says: “This section applies if it appears to the Secretary of State that adequate provision has not been made for an area in respect of electronic communications facilities.” My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West gave an example, and I have numerous cases in my constituency, as do the Minister’s hon. Friends. If not now, when we will address some of those concerns? When will the Secretary of State take the powers given to him in the clause to improve broadband, whether for trade in this country or for the important international trade on which we rely to close the trade deficit and improve prosperity overall?”
“Implemented properly, the legislation we are debating could help many tied tenants in the UK, whose pubs account for around 29% of pubs according to industry research in 2012.”
“What a lot of tidying up needed doing. Confusion reigned at one point. We have moved from one debate in which the Government have not exactly covered themselves in glory to another in which they have been in danger of making heavy weather of something on which there has been broad, cross-party agreement for quite some time. The challenges faced by tied tenants have provided an opportunity for long discussions with publicans in my constituency, and MPs from across the House have had similar conversations with pub tenants and pub companies around the country. The relationship between pub companies and tied tenants has long been of concern to those of us who value our pubs. The average of four pub closures a day, according to CAMRA, is the highest closure rate since the early 20th century, when legislation forced one in 10 pubs to close.”
“Under market rent-only conditions, as indicated in the first part of the consultation, none of the pub tenants whose rent reviews were due would have been entitled to the market rent-only option. Market rent-only is not just about rent. Indeed, the whole point of it is to reflect the overall financial burden of being a tied pub. It is also about the beer tie, which places a financial obligation on the tenant, and any other obligations they face.”
“Market rent-only is a valuable option to have on the table at rent renewal, but its absence for the majority of tenants, according to the consultation, meant that until the amendments—now to be replaced by the latest round of Government changes—were agreed in the Lords, a significant question mark remained for many pub tenants about whether they would ever be able to consider it. Remember: that was because the Government’s consultation suggested that market rent-only would be available only for tenant landlords at rent renewal if the renewal was going to lead to a rent increase. The problem with having a rent review that was triggered, among other things, only if rents were rising was that recent rental surveys showed that rents for some pubs were decreasing at rent review.”
“It is important to remember that there are significant concerns about what has happened since Baroness Neville-Rolfe made her promises in March 2015, hence the need for in-depth debate this afternoon. By including market rent-only in the Bill, Members in the other place intended to give us a chance to rectify any shortcomings in the pubs code that might still result from the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, not least following the apparent omissions in the consultation on the pubs code.”
“We should also commend the Pubs Advisory Service, which has done a great deal to fight for a fairer deal for tenant landlords right the way through the passage of this Bill and did so for a considerable time before the Bill was published. Ultimately, the measures are about giving tenant landlords a transparent set of options when it comes to negotiating their rental agreements with pubcos. What was needed was an option for tenant landlords to choose to shake off their beer ties with the pubco and agree to pay them only rent while getting their beer elsewhere. That is what was agreed in the previous Parliament, it is what the Lords amendments sought to clarify and it is what we are told is the purpose of new clauses 5 and 6.”
“That was clarified by the Minister, and she has done so again today. We are pleased to see that the Government have listened to the many voices calling on them to confirm the position on market rent-only and parallel rent assessment. New clause 6 enables the adjudicator to report on breaches of the code to the Secretary of State. It is a report mechanism to keep in check the large pubcos, both on the issue of market rent assessment and, more broadly, on the type of unfair business practices to which I referred a few moments ago. I commend Members in the other place for their dogged determination on this issue before the Bill came to this place.”
“It is hoped that that will mean that examples of pub tenants who have been promised major investment by the pubco but seen nothing, or who live in very poor living accommodation at their pub, will become a thing of the past, and that if the landlord promises to repair or maintain the public area or the living area, the repairs will take place in a timely fashion if they are part of the agreement with the tenant. New clause 5 entitles a tied pub tenant landlord to market rent-only at rent renewal. When the Government published part 1 of the consultation, the impression was given that tenants would be able to access market rent-only agreements only if a rental increase was on the table at assessment, a point raised by a number of Members at Business, Innovation and Skills questions at the time.”
“The inclusion of a parallel rent assessment should give tenants the opportunity to make an informed and objective decision about the best option available to them, as it will mean that tenants will be able to compare what they are being offered by their landlord—the pubco—with the situation if they pay only market rent. The adjudicator will be able to take into consideration broader issues of unfair practice in what has become a very unbalanced relationship between many pubcos and their tenant landlords.”
“We have invested our own profits back into the Pub, developing it further, and in our 4th year we achieved a turnover of over half a million pounds running a Pub that Punch sold as being ‘unviable’.” Dave goes on to say: “It is important to remember that MRO is only an option and if the Pub Companies and Brewers run a robust and positive business model then they have nothing to fear from an alternative model. MRO should encourage competition between Pub Companies striving to recruit the best people to run their Pubs rather than exploiting the unwary and the inexperienced.” Strong words. Sadly, Members on both sides of the House have heard numerous examples of similar experiences from pub tenants up and down the country. The Government’s new clauses will in principle make it easier for a tenant to qualify for a market rent-only agreement.”
“Despite being closed when we took on the Pub it is now, 4 years later, a thriving and profitable business, and despite paying a higher rent than we did at our tied Pub, the ability to choose who we purchase our beer from means we can negotiate our own suppliers and prices. Being able to utilise the huge range of craft beers, which were denied to us by the exorbitant price charged by Punch, we have developed a reputation for a wide range of choices, and an excellent reputation for food.”
“I am sure Dave will be known to some Committee members at least from his work with the Pubs Advisory Service. Dave said: “Between 2007 and 2012 I ran a Punch Taverns leased pub. During that period…I lost in excess of £85,000, eventually going bankrupt in 2013, despite running what became the busiest Pub in the area, achieving sales of £500,000 per year. In 2012 myself and my wife took on a Free of tie Pub very close to our first Pub in The Peak District. This Pub was sold by Punch Taverns as being non viable, having had 5 tenants in the 6 years Punch owned it. It was purchased by a local business man for us to run.”
“When Baroness Neville-Rolfe made her promises last March, tenants and pubcos alike had accepted the arrangement, and yet what followed was a lengthy delay, and the feeling among organisations representing tenant landlords that they were being kept in the dark about progress. The consultation on the draft pubs code, when published, caused dismay on all sides: parallel rent assessment was missing and conditions were placed on market rent-only that would block access to it for many tied landlords—a point that the Minister accepted in her opening remarks. I will return to details of the draft code shortly, but for now I should like to reiterate the importance of improving the relationship between pub tenants and pub companies by quoting Dave Mountford. Dave used to be a tied tenant and now runs a free house called The Boat.”
“There can be no doubt that we will introduce these provisions.” —[ Official Report, House of Lords, 9 March 2015; Vol. 760, c. 468.] I note that one year is coming up very, very soon. The promise of parallel rent assessments is of course important, as it means that pub tenants can compare like with like. As long as the parallel rent assessment is an independent process, then tenants can make a meaningful comparison between the situation they face as a tied pub tenant who buys beer and other supplies from their landlord on the one hand, and a tenant who only rents the pub premises, buying their beer where they want, on the other hand.”
“I am pleased to say that we have now reached a position where the Fair Pint campaign and CAMRA are content with our amendments.” —[ Official Report, House of Lords, 9 March 2015; Vol. 760, c. 448.] On parallel rent assessments, she said that the pubs code would “require pub companies to provide parallel rent assessments and turn the adjudicator functions in relation to PRAs into a duty. We have made a commitment to this House to introduce PRA. This commitment, together with the duty on the Secretary of State to produce the pubs code in Clause 42(1)”— of what was then the SBEE Bill— “means that the Government must deliver on these provisions in…secondary legislation one year after these provisions come into force, as I explained a minute ago.”
“In the Lords, the Government accepted the will of this House, and in March 2015 Baroness Neville-Rolfe made clear the Government’s commitment to both market rent-only and the parallel rent assessment that goes with it. Following the assurances of the Minister, amendments were not pressed to a further vote. Baroness Neville-Rolfe told peers: “I was clear at Second Reading that the Government accept the will of the other place that there should be a market rent only option. Our work since has been to ensure that it delivers the protections for those tied tenants without potential unintended consequences. The questions that have arisen and the discussions that have taken place are over exactly how the market rent only option should work in practice.”
“The argument for a tie-free option is clear, but it has taken a significant amount of time for the Government to reach the point of putting real support on the table for tenant landlords. In January 2013, the Government announced a statutory code of practice and an adjudicator, but it was not until mid-2014 that they included the plans as part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill—now the SBEE Act 2015. However, the option to give tenants the automatic right to go free of tie was not included in the Bill. In November 2014, amendments to the SBEE Bill were agreed in this House, despite Government opposition. The amendments included a market rent-only option as part of the new regulatory regime.”
“My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West just suggested that I was about to be invited for a pint of something that is already on in the Strangers’, but we can discuss that later perhaps. The market rent-only option will also benefit consumers. We have seen welcome growth in sales of real ale and micropubs that specialise in local, microbrewed ales. The Cornerpost in Brighton-le-Sands in my constituency opened last year and serves locally brewed beer; it is already popular in the neighbourhood. It is clear that many people, including me, have enjoyed access to micropubs. Giving more pubs the opportunity to go free of tie will be as welcome for pub goers as it is for tenant landlords.”
“Briefly, I hope that the Minister’s confidence is justified that this does what she says it does and that it achieves what was agreed by Parliament in the previous Session, what was in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and the essence of what the Baroness said in March and what was agreed in the Lords. I hope for her sake that that is all true and that it really will deliver for pub tenants. I take those assurances away. We have got to this point; it has not been the Government’s finest hour—I think the Minister acknowledges that—and with those remarks we will support what the Government are doing.”
“I do not intend to detain the Committee on this section except to say that the Minister’s explanatory statement makes very clear where we stand: that this is intended to clarify the effect of the Lords amendment. With that assurance, as I said in my closing remarks on the previous provision, assuming that all is going to go ahead and that this will be brought back later to be voted on, the sector is happy as things stand. We have finally got where we need to get to on the pubs code. I am sure there will be a decent degree of scrutiny of the implementation of the code, the role of the adjudicator and how the pub tenants’ relationship with pub companies operates in the future. With those comments, I am happy to go along with what the Minister is proposing.”
“I beg to move amendment 55, in clause 6, page 6, line 12, leave out “may” and insert “must”. This amendment would require the Commissioner to publish a report of the enquiry into, consideration and determination of a complaint made under the SBC complaints scheme. Good morning—and welcome back, Sir David. May I say what a fine question you asked in the Chamber this morning? Your point about switching energy suppliers is important, and it could well have been the subject of an amendment to the remit of the small business commissioner.”