argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Housing
Matthew Ridley (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I declare an interest in that I own two properties that are operated as pubs but they are not beer-tied pubs. I congratulate my noble friend on guiding us through the complexities of these amendments. I have to say, I found the topic of mitochondrial heteroplasmy two weeks ago much easier to understand On the whole, I subscribe to the revolutionary idea that people should be free to come up with any commercial arrangements between consenting adults that they wish to, but I certainly recognise that there is a clear wish in this House and the other place for some version of a pub code and a market rent only option. I welcome the Government’s sensible and measured approach to bringing all sides together in this but, as my noble friend Lord Hodgson said, the key question is whether this will keep pubs open The industry is clearly warning us that the Bill, unamended, could cost a lot of money—maybe £20 million a year—and could result in the closure of hundreds of pubs. This is confirmed by an independent study by London Economics. It may be wrong and it may be crying wolf, but if it is not, the Bill will have done precisely the opposite of what we all want: it will have closed pubs and thereby damaged communities. It behoves us to tread carefully The Government have listened carefully to all sides of this debate and made, as the Minister said, a proportionate and targeted response. They have made important changes to the MRO which will make it more workable, less open to legal challenge and fairer to all stakeholders, while maintaining its spirit. Without the government amendments, there is a risk that we would see less investment. It is a simple fact that many beer-tied pubs have received significant investments. Without the safeguards, the MRO would create uncertainty that deterred investment. We would thereby also lose a low-cost entry into the sector: tenants without the capital to invest in a free-of-tie pub would not necessarily come forward at the same rate—we have heard something on that already. It is crucial that if tenants want to go to an MRO and find investment outside they can do so, but if they want to defer MRO to the next rent review in exchange for investment they should be able to do that, too The one law that we keep passing in this House is the law of unintended consequences. Can my noble friend give the House some reassurance that these complicated amendments will minimise the risk of widespread pub closures?
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Other
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am afraid that I cannot agree to this amendment. I explained why we could agree to "must" elsewhere in the Bill but we are unable to agree to this amendment for reasons that I have also explained.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Other
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sorry; I think he is a friend on this occasion. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley—I will have to go back to Lords school shortly. As I explained in my long reply, it is standard legislative drafting to refer to provisions that "may" be set out in secondary legislation. In practice, we will do all the things that I have described. Therefore, I feel that these "musts" are not needed.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
James Younger (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 33M and 33W In Committee I supported my noble friend Lord Hodgson in proposing an exemption from an MRO for a tenant in return for an investment by a pub-owning company. It is necessary for the companies to have reassurances that investments—some of which are significant—made in their pubs are realised in both financial and non-financial returns. The latter would include good will and more intangible aspects such as reputation, quality of service and better atmosphere, which all serve to draw new customers in over a longer period of time. My noble friend the Minister was not minded to accept an exemption but I am pleased that she has been willing to engage with all after Committee and the word "deferral" seems to have replaced "exemption" Like my noble friend Lord Hodgson, I have some sympathy with many of the inserts proposed by the noble Lords, Lord Mendelsohn and Lord Stevenson, in their Amendment 33M, which, essentially, seeks to place considerable detail in primary legislation in the Bill by seeking clarification of the regulations, the Pubs Code and guidance. However, the noble Lords would place too much information in the Bill and the detail is more suited to secondary legislation and proper debate at this stage For example, subsection (2)(f) of the proposed new clause states that regulations and guidance shall include an investment agreement as a trigger for MRO. This is too vague and there is no substance in the timescales attached. Equally, in Amendment 33M subsection (3) of the proposed new clause states: "Any investment agreement must recognise the different nature and size of pubs and relevant investment requirements" This is an aspiration but it is too short on detail. Finally on Amendment 33M, in subsection (2)(b) of the proposed new clause, the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, cites that the maximum deferral period of an MRO in return for an investment should be five years. My noble friend Lord Hodgson alluded to this. That is too prescriptive and further work is required to determine the length of deferral time in relation to the amounts invested However, the overall tenor of Amendments 33M and 33W, tabled by my noble friend Lord Hodgson, I hope will go some way to persuade and encourage the Minister to commit to giving more thought to the details in a review—or is it called a consultation?—and to debate it thoroughly as secondary legislation There remain important unanswered questions, including what constitutes a major or minor investment, over what periods these investments might be considered to be reasonable to allow a decent rate of return and how one might describe "decent" and how it should be defined. Perhaps my noble friend can give the House further reassurances here on Report as to the process of how the details will be debated and presented.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Housing
Patience Wheatcroft (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is clear that pub companies need to be encouraged to invest in their estate: it is an obvious thing to do. The pubcos claim that they invested £200 million in their properties over the past two years and so, although there are complaints from tenants, there must be some happy ones out there.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Other
Patience Wheatcroft (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that I do not have the details of the happy ones because they are obviously getting on with running their businesses rather than contacting me, and I hope that they are doing very well.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Other
Robin Granville Hodgson (Conservative, Centre-right): My noble friend might like to know that I produced three or four examples for the noble Lord in Committee. He just regards them as anecdotal evidence, but the fact is that there are anecdotes on both sides of this argument. There are just as many happy ones—or perhaps more—as unhappy ones.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Housing
Patience Wheatcroft (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend Lord Hodgson and I support him in his amendment because it finds the balance between being overly prescriptive and legislating to give some comfort to pub owners, thus persuading them that it is safe for them to invest. I cannot support the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, in his amendment. It seems to be far too prescriptive for the Bill, as others have said, and somewhat contradictory. The Bill already states that a trigger event for an MRO will be something that was unforeseen. An investment agreement, by its very nature, will have to be something that is negotiated Surely there are pub owners and pub landlords who are capable of negotiating an investment agreement that suits both sides. I do not subscribe to the view that all pub owners are out to do the dirty on their tenants or that all tenants are weaklings. Indeed, the Pub Landlord, that character who is so well known to television viewers, is standing up to Nigel Farage in South Thanet, although it has to be said that that particular pub landlord has not been seen there very often We need to offer landlords some protection so that, if owners invest in their pubs, they will not immediately be forced into an MRO. The trigger, as cited in the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, would have that option. What sensible landlord is going to put money into his pub if the recipient could instantly trigger an MRO? There needs to be some scope for negotiation. My noble friend the Minister has shown that she is open to negotiation and consultation, and the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Hodgson would be the best way forward. However, perhaps the Minister could reassure us that she sees the need for investment to be encouraged and that she will find a way of giving pub owners and landlords the protection they need in order to invest in their estate.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Housing
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, and my noble friend Lord Hodgson for their amendments and for providing us with an opportunity to debate further the very important question of continued investment by pub-owning companies in tied pubs. That is especially the case because, as my noble friend Lord Hodgson has just said, pubs are having to reinvent themselves in the 21st century. As we have heard, these two amendments approach the issue in rather different ways, and I understand the motivations behind both. I can reassure the noble Lord and my noble friend that the Government absolutely want to see investment in tied pubs. That is key to the success of the industry, both for pub companies and for tenants. We want to see pubs thriving and the new arrangements to work I think we all accept that the possibility of pubs exercising the market rent only option will create some uncertainty for pub companies, and it is possible that there might be more uncertainty than they can live with if they are thinking of making a substantial investment in a pub. It is equally clear that there is some nervousness around asking tenants to defer some of their MRO rights in return for investment and that serious consideration needs to be given to how this would work in practice and the safeguards that need to be in place. As I said earlier in our debate, we have been considering how best to address this and strike the right balance. I can reassure my noble friend Lord Hodgson that the Bill as drafted does not prevent pub companies issuing the tenant with a new lease alongside an offer of investment, and no amendment to the Bill is necessary to enable companies to do so As my noble friend pointed out, a new agreement may attract costs for tenants, including legal costs and stamp duty The situation means that the MRO triggers on rent review or renewal would not be available to the tenant for a period of five years, as that is the maximum interval that the code will currently allow between rent assessments. It would, however, provide the pub company with some certainty. We recognise that there will be occasions where a larger investment—
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Housing
Robin Granville Hodgson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not quite clear whether my noble friend said that there was or was not a problem with stamp duty. My understanding is that there are repeat stamp duty obligations; in other words, you write off the stamp duty of the lease that is running and have to start again every time you have a new agreement, and for five years that is another £5,000, plus whatever you have written off before, plus the legal costs. I am not clear whether she said that was a problem. If this is too difficult and technical, I am happy for her to write to me.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Housing
Robin Granville Hodgson (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I know that this is Report, not Committee, but if I may say so to the noble Lord, I have made it perfectly clear that there are between 20,000 and 25,000 tied agreements between pubcos and tenants, and not every one of them behaves like a saint; clearly, mistakes are made. I have explained, if he was not listening to my remarks earlier, that the problem with the tie is that built into it are two inherent conflicts of interest.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Robin Granville Hodgson (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thought for one wonderful moment that my noble friend was going to agree to put something in the Bill, but it will be secondary legislation again, with all the disadvantages and uncertainties that that implies Of course the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, has a family familiarity with franchising, in the sense that his uncle was the moving spirit of the British Franchise Association, which of course would help set the standards that would decide what a pub franchise looks like, because it has a lot of experience in that area—so this will come back to haunt him yet My concern about the Minister’s reply is that we find ourselves unable to move the structure of the pub trade forward. We need to find new and better models. There will always be concerns that any new corporate structure we invent carries the risk of it being used for a loophole. That is not the case, because the amendment brings every single aspect of the franchise within the Pubs Code and the Pubs Code Adjudicator’s power except the single issue that you cannot ask for a market rent option because you are not paying any rent I accept my noble friend’s assurances that the Government intend to make sure that this is properly dealt with in consultation, but they are making a mistake because there is a danger of slip ’twixt cup and lip. My concern is that the trade finds itself locked into a structure with which neither side is entirely satisfied, and that we may therefore perpetuate enmity, suspicion and difficulty. I had hoped to find a way out of that by getting something in the Bill. I am sorry that the Government will not do that, but I see no point in taking it any further on this occasion. I therefore beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Robin Granville Hodgson (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it will not surprise the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, that I urge the Government not to accept the amendment. The issue of the change in the MRO and its introduction is about tenants: that is to say, self-employed business men and women and the imbalance of bargaining power between the individual tenant and the brewery, in particular because of the issue of the rent charged and the charge for products and services supplied. That is the heart of the problem Managed pubs—the other big category—are run by people who are employed by the brewery, who run it like a branch office. The noble Lord, Lord Snape, referred earlier to how Wetherspoon runs its pubs. It has managers in every pub who are employees. They are paid a salary and a bonus, with all the other aspects that go with corporate existence. To include those in a Pubs Code would be wrong, first because there is no rent to pay and no question of any aspect of the Pubs Code applying to pubs like that. These are completely different vehicles and corporate structures, and the application of the Pubs Code can have focus and effect only where you are dealing with independent businessmen, whether they are tied, franchised, or whatever.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, for his amendment, and for his engagement on these provisions in advance of Report. As the noble Lord explained, these amendments would change the definition of a pub-owning business for the purposes of the Pubs Code to one with 500 or more pubs of any kind rather than 500 or more tied pubs The noble Lord asked about franchises. They will indeed be included for the purposes of the 500, as I think my noble friend Lord Hodgson helpfully explained when we were discussing it earlier. The definition focuses on the alcohol tie, because that is where we have evidence of problems, as colourfully explained in four Business Select Committee reports, all of which focused on the tie I understand the noble Lord’s view that companies with more than 500 pubs of any kind are companies of sufficient size that they can cope with complying with the code. However, the amendments would lead to some striking anomalies. A pub-owning company with 499 pubs, all of which are tied, would not be covered by the code, but a pub-owning company with 500 managed or free-of-tie pubs and just one tied pub would be covered for that one tied pub.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Other
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank noble Lords. I am especially grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Watson, for his support today and for the work that he put into what has become the government amendments. If I may, I will write to him on the public interest test.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): Can my noble friend honestly say that it will not affect small businesses? "Small business" is in the title. Every single small business in this country—not the micros but almost every other small business—is going to have to register, and that is going to cost it a considerable amount of time, money and resources. So how can he possibly say, "Well, it’s not going to affect any of them. It’s only going to be the great big national companies and other big companies that are manoeuvring things internationally"? He is talking rubbish, is he not?
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sorry to interrupt my noble friend again. He may have been a lawyer periodically dealing with a few small businesses; nevertheless, the chambers of commerce and others say exactly the opposite to what he is saying. Surely they know better than some lawyer working part time on small businesses.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Bruce Forsyth (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I will speak briefly against this amendment. Of course, no one could dispute the intention behind it. If the intention is to stop criminal activities and tax evasion—and I make a distinction between tax avoidance and tax evasion; when we are talking about criminal activities, we are talking about tax evasion—no one could dispute it. However, it rather seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut, or perhaps a sledgehammer aimed in the wrong places. The impact assessment undertaken by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills of the proposals as they already stand says that almost £1 billion will be added to the costs of small businesses, which the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, tells us is not really significant. I wager to suggest—
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Bruce Forsyth (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord is absolutely right, because this is not the Government’s proposal—which is why I am against his amendment. He said in his speech that it would not be very much extra without actually telling us how much extra it would be. We already have £1 billion being added to the costs of small and medium-sized businesses at a time of great stress in our economy and when we are desperate for them to grow and create wealth. Yet here we are asking people running small businesses to fill in forms, and if they fill them in inaccurately, they will find themselves committing a criminal office.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Bruce Forsyth (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not sure which bit the noble Lord was saying was not so. He may very well be right in his assertion—although I doubt it—that the Government will collect more money, but that does not help the small business man who is faced with these additional costs, for whom there is no benefit whatever. They already struggle to fill in their VAT forms and their surveys on this, that and the other while trying to run their businesses. This would add a very significant burden.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Michael Bruce Forsyth (Conservative, Centre-right): Given the size and scope of the register, can my noble friend say how exactly Companies House will do that, how many people they will need to employ to achieve that objective and what the likely cost will be?
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the point I was making about reporting is that we would extend the annual report, in any event, so that it covered this new function, which is sensible, and in that context we would obviously look at data and other relevant issues The noble Lord asked about the scale of staffing required. I may be able to give him a response if I can make a bit of progress. My normal port of call would be the compliance cost assessment. The answer is that we are going to do this within the existing budget but in co-operation with other enforcement agencies. I have been to see Companies House during the course of swotting up for the Bill and I am impressed by it. It is bringing a more modern approach to the way in which it does things. It has been aware for some time that it is going to be given this new burden and it is ready and willing to pursue it.
Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill — House of Lords, 2015-03-09
Topic: Mixed Topics
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): As I understand my noble friend’s argument, she is saying that her department and other departments are in a similar mode. Their staff will cope with these changes and this huge register at nil cost other than what is already budgeted for the implementation of this Bill. Is that correct?