§ ' .—(1) It shall be the duty of a local authority to secure that, so far as practicable, the interests of that authority in any negotiations with respect to the terms and conditions on which persons in local authority employment hold office or arc employed are never represented, whether directly or indirectly by, or by persons who include—
- (a) a person who is both a member of the authority and in such employment; or
- (b) a person who is both a member of the authority and an official or employee of a trade union whose members include persons in local authority employment.
§
(2) In this section—
member", in relation to a trade union, includes any person who is a member of that union within the meaning of the Employment Act 1988; and
official" and "trade union" have the same meanings as in the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1988; and
official" and "trade union" have the same meanings as in the Trade Union and Labour relations Act 1974; and
and a person shall be treated for the purposes of this section as in local authority employment if he holds any paid office or employment under a local authority or any such paid office or employment under any other person as, by virtue of section 80(1)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 or section 31(1)(a) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, disqualifies him for membership of any authority.
§ (3) This section shall come into force at the expiry of the period of two months beginning on the day this Act is passed.'.—[Mr. Gummer.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ 6 pm
§ Mr. GummerI beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
The effect of the provision would be to prohibit a local authority appointing a person who is both a member of the authority and an employee of local government from representing its interests in any negotiations concerning the terms and conditions of local government staff. The prohibition would also cover any member of local government who is also an official or employee of a trade union, the members of which include persons in local authority employment. This is an attempt to ensure that conflicts of interest do not arise in staff negotiations.
§ Mr. SoleyThe new clause is what is known as the painful elaboration of the obvious because most local 746 authorities—indeed, all, because I do not know of any exceptions—practise this. Why on earth the Government, who boast about not producing unnecessary legislation, choose to do this is beyond me, but if they want to go through this strange rigmarole, so be it.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.