§ Lord Wedderburn of Charltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether their review of human rights will take cognisance of the international instruments ratified by the United Kingdom on freedom of association and labour rights, especially those originating in the International Labour Organisation and the Council of Europe, and of the failure to comply with various such instruments by the United Kingdom and the steps needed to rectify such contraventions; whether they have invited representatives of the Trades Union Congress, the Confederation of British Industry or bodies representing lawyers in the United Kingdom specialising in such international labour law to attend any meetings of the Human Rights Forum; and whether they will publish details of the occasions on which the forum has met since 2002, and will meet in the future, and the agenda of business of such meetings. [HL3141]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin)The Interdepartmental Review of Human Rights Instruments has included the International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise) and 98 (The Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining), both of which have been ratified by the UK. The review has not looked at the question of compliance with any instrument, as this is beyond its terms of reference. My department's Ministerial Forum on Human Rights has a core membership of non-governmental organisations concerned with the promotion of human rights in the UK, and invites other organisations as the need arises. The minutes of its meetings since 2002 are published on my department's human rights website (www.humanrights.gov.uk).