Bills to tackle modern slavery, usher in sweeping pension reforms and protect volunteers featured in a Queen’s Speech that caused a page boy to faint.
The Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill (SARAH) will protect those who step in to help others by requiring courts to take into account the context of an incident if a negligence case is brought.
Alex Botha, chief executive of the British Safety Council, welcomes the bill, saying: “People should not be punished if they have acted in good faith for the benefit of society, their community or of one person who is in trouble.
“Of course we do not support reckless actions and risk education is an important part of this debate, but decisions sometimes have to be made in seconds. It is important that the context of any incident is taken into account by the courts.”
An Infrastructure Bill will simplify planning laws and give greater powers to the Land Registry, with a view to part-privatisation. A Bill will create a public register of beneficial owners of companies.
The Pension Tax Bill will remove the requirement for pension holders to buy a lifetime annuity, while the Private Pensions Bill will launch new collective pension schemes.
A Modern Slavery Bill, designed to tackle the grim trade in people for prostitution and other illegal activities, will increase penalties for traffickers and offer greater protection to victims.
Harsher penalties will be exacted on employers who abuse national minimum wage rules and zero hours contracts, under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill.
Peter Mooney, Head of Consultancy at ELAS, says: “The Queen’s announcement of the introduction of a Bill that will tackle the misuse of zero-hours is a positive step to re-building employee confidence.
“This new initiative will be welcomed by retailers, hotels and in the social care sector as zero-hours contracts are vital for industries that rely on 24/7 cover and an ‘on-call’ pool of staff to meet those needs.”
Rogue solicitors and other professionals who assist organised criminals are targeted by the Serious Crimes Bill, which will create an offence of “participation in an organised crime group” where defendants had “reasonable grounds to suspect” their clients were involved in crime.
Many solicitors reacted by pointing out that existing conspiracy laws, anti-money laundering requirements and other regulations already make this an offence. Law Society President, Nick Fluck said the new offence would need to be carefully examined.
