HC Deb 17 April 1973 vol 855 cc254-5
Ql. Mr. Molloy

asked the Prime Minister if he is satisfied with the coordination between the Departments of Trade and Industry and Employment concerning the operation of paragraphs 44-46 of the Code of Industrial Relations Practice.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)

Yes, Sir.

Mr. Molloy

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that I cannot agree with that somewhat complacent reply? Is he further aware that, in my constituency, the firm of Rockware Glass has mysteriously closed down without any consultations with the four major unions involved, that it had maintained an expansion programme over the past decade, so that this was a grievous shock to everybody, and that the management completely ignored the Industrial Relations Code? Ministers have said that this is because of the peculiar circumstances of the firm but are not prepared to tell the unions what those circumstances were. Will the Prime Minister consider a special inquiry into this extraordinary and bizarre situation?

The Prime Minister

I recognise the hon. Gentleman's concern over this matter, which he is quite right to express. He has, however, had a full explanation of the circumstances in this case in the letter sent to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Industrial Development on 16th March. Everybody would regret any exceptional circumstances in which firms could not carry out the relevant paragraphs of the code, but the firm explained clearly the circumstances in which it feared a takeover bid and it had to take an urgent decision in the interests of its employees as a whole.

Mr. Bidweil

Does the Prime Minister know the extent to which land bidding and efforts, as in this case by Slater Walker, to buy shares induce a company to act in a hostile way and feel obliged to circumvent the Industrial Relations Code?

The Prime Minister

I do not have the details to which the hon. Gentleman refers. I have said that the firm claims that it feared a takeover bid, and in the interests of the company and its employees as a whole it decided to concentrate its production in its two other factories, both of which, I believe, are in development areas.