Trade Union Bill

Debate between Lord Ouseley and Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Thursday 25th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ouseley (CB)]

My Lords, I want to make a very short contribution. The noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, has said virtually everything I was going to say, far better than I would be able to, and I am pleased about that. However, it is important to stress that Clause 15 represents an affront to fairness, justice and proportionality.

The Certification Officer’s independence, impartiality and integrity will be compromised by Clause 15. The new expansive investigatory powers and sanctions being vested in the Certification Officer, from the position of reasonableness, as we have heard, would in effect be likely to result in uncontrolled, unaccountable and non-independent interventions in trade unions’ reasonable and legitimate activities. There is no evidential basis to suggest that the expansion of powers is justified.

I will not repeat the assessment by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which has been alluded to already, with regard to contraventions of the European Convention on Human Rights. I would like to reiterate one point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, about Clause 15 and related schedules being relevant to the UK’s other legal obligations, particularly the International Labour Organization’s Convention 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise. Will the Minister please indicate how the Government intend to respond to the ILO committee of experts’ request that the Government review a number of provisions in the Bill and provide comments on the proposals to extend the powers of the Certification Officer?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Neville-Rolfe) (Con)]

My Lords, the sore throat that I have been keeping at bay all week overwhelmed me earlier so I apologise to the House. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, for what I think I should call solidarity because she presented me with some Fisherman’s Friends so that I can get through the rest of today. I also congratulate my noble friend Lord Courtown on his interesting contribution to the Committee’s proceedings, and all noble Lords who have spoken in this important debate.

In our manifesto, we said that we would reform the role of the Certification Officer and we are doing just that with, it is fair to say, a great deal of scrutiny in this House. The Certification Officer has responsibility to consider complaints relating to important union processes. It is vital that we have confidence that those processes are conducted properly. For example, the Certification Officer can consider complaints in relation to union leadership elections, union mergers or the accuracy of trade union membership registers—which matter a lot if there is a ballot—or to ensuring the removal from a union office of a person who has been convicted of certain financial offences.

I would argue that there is a legitimate public interest in trade unions running their affairs according to what is required of them. It is not always the case that union members will know their union’s regulatory duties. That is why a responsive and diligent regulator is necessary. I hope that is agreed.