MINOR AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 29 October 1975)

§ Mr. Booth
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this amendment we may also discuss Lords Amendments Nos. 227 to 230.

§ Mr. Hayhoe
Going through so many amendments formally seemed so much like an auction that I felt I had better intervene before the jackpot was reached on Lords Amendment No. 226, after which we shall have almost concluded our consideration of the Lords amendments.
We have reached the point where we shall have considered 230 Lords amendments and agreed to 209 of them. The Bill was substantially improved in another place. Very important amendments have been made, some of them in response to suggestions which emanated from this House. Generally speaking, the Bill is much better even without the Lords amendments which we have deleted from it. It would have been an even better Bill if some of the 21 amendments which we disagreed to had been left intact.
This might be the last opportunity of commenting on the Bill, although one must not presume to prejudge what another place might do. There still remains an opportunity for the Bill to return to this House for further consideration. It may be opportune now, however, to express our gratitude to those who have 1705 answered the many points and queries which have been raised and to those who have advised the Ministers. We have not always been happy with what Ministers have said, but on those occasions I am sure they must have been acting wholly within their own responsibility and ignoring the advice of their officials. We are grateful to all concerned.

§ Mr. Booth
I concur completely with the last remarks by the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Mr. Hayhoe). Wherever I have given offence to the Opposition, it has been entirely my fault. We are indebted to our officials for their advice and to the many other people we have consulted, many of whom realise how important this legislation is in many aspects of industry. I pay tribute to the Opposition here and to another place, where efforts were made to improve the Bill. It would be very strange if a Bill with such wide scope and range dealing with so many detailed matters had not been capable of considerable improvement.
Some of our debates have shown up the very real differences of opinion which exist. Running through the debates has been a theme which demonstrates the need which we hope the Bill will meet for dealing with many matters affecting the way in which millions of people are employed. I therefore support the remarks by the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth, and I include him in my tribute to those who have sought to improve the Bill.
I extend my thanks to the staff of my Department, who have been worked off their feet in dealing with queries which have arisen on the Bill. We are only too conscious of the tremendous job they do in helping to bring forward legislation such as this. Right hon. and hon. Members may naturally complain at the long nights and difficult Committee stage, but coming as I have done fairly recently to the Department of Employment I have realised just how much work is involved for other people to whom the House should be grateful.
Before we move on to the last of the amendments, perhaps we should acknowledge that we are the servants of a great many people in what we are seeking to do in this legislation. The extent to which we shall have been successful will 1706 depend not entirely on what we do but also on the way in which they seek to put the Bill into practice.

	"10A. After paragraph 6(5) of Schedule 1 (dismissal in closed shop situation), insert the following sub-paragraphs:—
5	"(5A) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (5) above aunion shall be treated as specified for the purposes of or in relation to a union membership agreement (in a case where it would not otherwise be so treated) if—
10	(a) the Service has made a recommendation for recognitioncovering the employee in question which is operative within the meaning of section 15 of the Employment Protection Act 1975; or
15	(b) subject to sub-paragraph (5B) below the union has referred a recognition issue (within the meaning of that Act) covering that employee to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service under section11 of that Act and it has not withdrawn the reference, or from the reference, and the issue has not been settled or reported on under section 12 of that Act"
20	(5B) Sub-paragraph (5A)(b) above shall not apply where the reference is such a reference as is described in section 12(2) of that Act (reference of issue previously considered by the Service) on which, in accordance with that subsection the Service declines to proceed."