HL Deb 06 July 1938 vol 110 cc612-3

Constitution of Central Board.

(2) Of the representative members other than those appointed from among members of the area boards, one-half shall be persons who in the opinion of the Minister represent employers of workers to whom Part I of this Act applies and one-half shall be persons who in his opinion represent such workers, and before determining the number of such representative members and before appointing any such members the Minister shall consult any organisations appearing to him to represent such employers and workers respectively.

LORD WALERAN moved, in subparagraph (2) of paragraph 1, to leave out "before appointing any such members the Minister shall consult any organisations" and insert "the Minister shall appoint representative members on the nomination of organisations." The noble Lord said: My Lords, on behalf of my noble friends Lord Sandhurst and Earl Howe, I beg to move this Amendment. Your Lordships will remember that Lord Templemore, speaking on June 29, gave an assurance that he would undertake to look into this matter, and I shall be very grateful to hear that he has been able to do so.

Amendment moved— Page 19, line 22, leave out from ("and") to ("appearing") in line 23, and insert ("the Minister shall appoint representative members on the nomination of organisations").—(Lord Waleran.)

LORD TEMPLEMORE

My Lords, my noble friend is quite right. I did undertake to look into this matter. I said then that if my noble friend would withdraw his Amendment I would look into the matter between then and the Report stage, and see whether we could put in any words to allay the apprehensions of Lord Howe and his friends. This matter has been very carefully considered, and I am afraid that I can only repeat the assurance which has been already given in another place, that the Minister will consult the organisations and pay due regard to everything they say, and as far as possible adopt what they say. My noble friend will remember that I said on the Committee stage that the Minister would be prepared to follow the advice of the organisations and their views to the fullest possible extent. Further than that I am afraid my right honourable friend cannot go. The Government do not see their way to put fuller words into the Bill, and I hope the noble Lord will not press the Amendment.

LORD WALERAN

Having heard what the noble Lord has to say, I beg leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Second Schedule: