§ 6. Mr. Molloyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has received following the decision not to reappoint Professor Hugh Clegg as Chairman of the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal; and what replies he has sent.
§ Mr. R. CarrRepresentations have been made by the Staff Side of the Civil Service National Whitley Council and by some Civil Service Unions. These have raised a number of points to which I have given individual replies.
§ Mr. MolloyI thank the Secretary of State for that reply. Will he take full cognisance of what it means when the national Staff Side makes its representations? Does he not think that it would be in the interests of the Staff Side and everyone else if he were to reappoint Professor Clegg? Will he use his good offices to stop the Government loading the dice in the manner that they have done on industrial relations?
§ Mr. CarrI do not accept for a moment the implications in the last part of the supplementary question. The Question is about reappointment, and reappointments are always open. We must put this the other way round for a moment and wonder what the Staff Side would have said had the independent Chairman accepted nomination as an employers' representative on a court. There is no slight on Pressor Clegg's integrity, but if one takes on a job which is judicial in nature one must, however reluctantly, refrain from doing things which otherwise one would have done quite properly.