§ 4. Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will introduce legislation to prevent employers from conducting personality or lie-detector tests on potential employees.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. David Howell)No, Sir. My right hon. Friend does not consider legislation necessary. We have no evidence of the use of so-called lie-detector tests for selection purposes in British industry.
§ Mr. HuckfieldI am very glad that the hon. Gentleman has no such information. But is he aware that employers are asking an increasing number of very personal and unnecessary questions, that that tendency is bound to increase as one of the consequences of the Industrial Relations Bill, and that there are a large number of agencies specialising in supplying this very personal information, particularly on trade union activities?
§ Mr. HowellI am glad that the hon. Gentleman is glad. If he has evidence of specific issues on lie-detector tests, we should like to know about them.
§ Sir B. Rhys WilliamsDoes my hon. Friend agree that in the interview situation every intelligent question is a personality test and every interviewer is a lie detector?
§ Mr. HowellThere is a certain amount of truth in what my hon. Friend says.
§ Mr. LiptonHave not most hon. Members, either at the hands of their local political associations or at the hands of the electorate as a whole, had to undergo personality tests with more or less moderate success?
§ Mr. HowellThat opens up far wider areas into which I hesitate to tread.