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Employment Bill [HL]

I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, that from the Government’s point of view there is no need to put pressure on ACAS to produce any more codes. If it wants to it can, but we are satisfied that it has sufficient power today to respond to pressure from anywhere. As we speak, it has not received that pressure but after today it might. In our view, there is no need to add to the paperwork, to the regulation, to another pile of red tape which burdens business every day. However, as the noble Lord says, while I was concerned with the concept of the wider issue, I did not wish to demean it. It goes to the heart of what this nation is about and I can see the point. I am satisfied that with what ACAS currently has in the box of tools which it can bring to bear at any time, it can deal with the issues raised in the workplace; on whether it can deal with them outside the workplace, I suggest probably not, but this is not the place to discuss that.