§ 4.7 p.m.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, with permission, I should like to repeat a Statement which my right honourable friend the First Secretary of State is making in another place on the Report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations. The Statement is as follows: "The Report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations has been published today. I am sure that the House will want me to thank Lord Donovan and his colleagues for this valuable and constructive Report.
233 I am initiating as a matter of urgency consultations with both sides of industry on the Royal Commission's recommendations, which are detailed and far-reaching and will require careful study by all concerned. In the light of these consultations I shall present a White Paper setting out the Government's proposals."
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord for making this Statement here, and to join in expressing our appreciation of the work of Lord Donovan and his colleagues on the Royal Commission, although we are not yet of course, in a position to appreciate their Report itself. We shall need to study it. I do not intend to comment in any way, except simply to ask the noble Lord how soon he thinks that he will be in a position to present the White Paper setting out the Government's proposals. How long does he expect these consultations with those concerned to go on? Perhaps I might also ask him this question. Have the Government already had an opportunity to give full consideration to these recommendations, and are they in a position to go ahead with these consultations right away?
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I should like to agree with the noble Lord in expressing appreciation of the Royal Commission, hearing in mind also that Members of your Lordships' House—the noble Lord, Lord Robens of Woldingham (I do not know whether he has actually taken his seat), the noble Lord, Lord Tangley, and the noble Lord, Lord Collison—also contributed. I am afraid that I cannot say when the White Paper will be published. The full Report has been in the hands of the Government for only a few days. The Government will wish to study the Report, although of course they will need to have consultations with the Trades Union Congress, the Confederation of British Industry and nationalised industries, and it will be in the light of these consultations that the Government will publish this White Paper. But I am afraid that until these negotiations are under way—and the Government are anxious to get on with them as quickly as possible—I cannot foretell when it will be done. My guess is that it cannot be very soon. The Report will need very careful consideration.
§ LORD CITRINEMy Lords, I should like to join in expressing appreciation of the work of the Commission. I have read, I think, every one of the verbatim reports that have been issued, and it seems to me that the Royal Commission have made the most objective and certainly one of the most through examinations of this wide subject. Can the Minister tell us whether in the Report is unanimous? Are the recommendations unanimous, or are there Minority recommendations?
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I myself have looked only very quickly at the Report. There are certain reservations on certain issues. I think it would be fair to say—though here I have to be careful—that the broad approach is unanimous. There are some reservations, which are not unimportant, but I should have thought that they were not significant in comparison to the Commission's general approach. For instance, one statement with which the Government agree is that properly conducted collective bargaining is the best way of running industrial relations; another propounds the need to introduce greater order into company bargaining. On issues of this kind there is unanimity.
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lards, while I quite appreciate that there will be need to give the most careful study to this Report, I am sure that I speak for all my noble friends when I say that we should like to impress upon the Government the need for taking as early action as possible on the Report, so that we may have the right legislative framework to bring our industrial relations up to modern-day standards.
LORD REAMy Lords, from these Benches I should like to endorse what the noble Lord has said and very much welcome this Report. This matter of course, has been on the stocks, on and off, for many decades and we join heartily in hoping that some quick result will be achieved. We very much appreciate the work that has been done.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, the Government and the Opposition are of course, at one in wishing to proceed urgently, but this is an important and difficult field and it is highly important that we proceed with general agreement.