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Equality Bill

My Lords, I would like to interject briefly, as this issue has been worrying me a lot because I knew it was buried somewhere in the Bill. If I have understood the amendment correctly, it is about procurement and where it is in the supply chain. Already small and medium-sized businesses have a huge problem in getting business and contracts from government bodies. There are a lot of barriers in their way, and a lot of contractual obstacles are put in their path. SMEs employ about half the non-public sector workforce in this country. They are very large employers. Most are tiny companies employing five people or fewer, but some are larger companies. Innovation and growth in the economy come from the SME sector: they do not come from large companies, which tend to rationalise and downsize. Therefore, future pensions will be paid by these companies. In some areas, the local authority is almost the only employer. Therefore, there is a huge problem if people cannot do business with the local authority. I have seen one of these forms. It was sent to my wife, who employs only three or four people, in order that a small sum could be procured from her. It is impossible. There are questions like, ““Can we see your special diversity policy?”” and ““Can you prove that X number of your workforce are this, that and the other?””. Small companies cannot handle it. Therefore it is very sensible that there should be an exemption at some level—although I do not know what the figure should be—to allow government authorities to procure from small businesses. Because this applies down the supply chain, it may not apply to the first contractor, which may be a large organisation. However, when that organisation wants to contract further down the supply chain, the same thing will apply. The Government should show mercy to small companies, because the burden of bureaucracy is already enormous on them. This could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.