Trade Union Bill — House of Lords, 2016-02-25
Topic: Labor
Richard Balfe (Conservative, Centre-right): I will not admit to whether I am a nook or a cranny, but I thank the noble Baroness for that The impact assessment says that the Secretary of State is, "to be given a power to make affirmative regulations … The regulations will include a requirement for the Secretary of State to consult trade unions and employer associations on how the fees should be calculated" Could the Minister give us any indication about what level of consultation of trade unions will take place? The impact assessment then says in paragraph 287: "They will also limit the fees to cost recovery, and provide that the membership size of trade unions … may be taken into account when the fees are calculated" This is obviously quite important, and I will come back to it in a minute. It then goes on to say, in paragraph 294: "The change to the operations of the Certification Officer will not change the costs faced by compliant unions" I am not sure I understand that, because if the costs are going to go up, that must surely change the fees, because they will have to go up to meet them. In paragraph 295, the assessment repeats what it says in paragraph 287: "The mechanism in which the levy will be calculated will be consulted on with trade unions and employer associations" Can the Minister give us some idea of how that will take place A little further on, paragraph 297 says that, "secondary legislation will set out how the levy will operate in more detail … a further impact assessment will be needed for the secondary legislation" Could the Minister give us some idea as to where we are with that impact assessment? Is it in process and will it be produced after the legislation is adopted? What will happen Finally, paragraph 299 says: "The design of the levy will consider the inclusion of specified criteria such as the number of members or amount of income an organisation has" I have raised this privately with the Minister, but make no secret of the fact that a number of these smaller unions are concerned at the impact this levy will have on them. Particular concern has been raised with me by a number of the smaller unions about the difference in costs that could be incurred because a large union with a political fund—for example, Unite—could end up costing the regulator a lot more to regulate than a smaller union without a political fund, such as the British Dental Association I am sure that the Minister cannot say anything tonight, but I would like her to agree, in working out how the levy is to be apportioned, to look, first, at giving due regard to these smaller unions—hopefully some sort of graded system will be introduced. Secondly, will consideration at least be given in the consultation to the fact that unions that have chosen to have a political fund, which is of course regulated separately, should pay an extra part of the levy so that, in other words, the levy for the supervision of the political fund will not be placed on unions that do not have a political fund I know that these are rather small and technical points, but they are quite vital to small trade unions. If you are looking at a fourfold increase in costs, and these costs being placed on the unions for the first time, coming on top of other costs that they have recently had placed on them, this is a serious financial burden for the smaller unions in the TUC. Many of those smaller unions, which represent important professional subgroups within the population, play an extremely important part. Some people will say that they can always be taken over by big unions but that, to my mind, is not the solution. The smaller unions of this country play an extraordinarily important part in safeguarding the pay and conditions and bringing the detailed knowledge to bear for important groups of largely, I confess, highly professional workers. They do a valuable job, and in constituting this levy and working out where it falls, I hope that the Minister can assure us that due regard will be given to the points I have raised.