§ 3.16 p.m.
§ Lord RochesterMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so when, they propose to publish the results of their monitoring of the action reported to have been taken by companies in introducing, maintaining and developing employee involvement in accordance with Section 1 of the Employment Act 1982.
§ The Minister Without Portfolio (Lord Young of Graffham)My Lords, the Government are presently analysing the first reports to come within the scope of Section 1 from several hundred companies. We hope to make available the results of this analysis within the next few weeks.
§ Lord RochesterMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that positive response to my Question. Does he recall that some disappointing conclusions have been 345 drawn by organisations concerned with industrial relations about statements on this subject that have already been included in company annual reports? In publishing the results of their monitoring, will the Government accordingly state what further action they propose to take to encourage more involvement of employees in improving the performance of their company?
§ Lord Young of GraffhamMy Lords, I have noticed that many of those who make a practice of forecasting disappointing results have their hopes dashed when the full report comes out. I hope very much that when the full report comes out we shall see what steps have been taken and at that time we shall be able to say whether anything else should be done.
§ Lord Dean of BeswickMy Lords, is the Minister aware that along with other noble Lords I await the report with interest and am pleased to hear that it will be forthcoming shortly? Bearing in mind that the figures just published show a further increase in unemployment by about 5,000, despite the rosy predictions of an economic recovery, would he like to tell this House how he believes those people will view the statement that he has made today?
§ Lord Young of GraffhamMy Lords, I think that that is rather far from the point of the Question.
§ Lord RochesterMy Lords, does the noble Lord agree that there is an even greater problem in terms of "us" and "them" in the public sector of industry than in the majority of private companies? If he does, will he say whether the Government propose to take action to deal with the problem?
§ Lord Young of GraffhamMy Lords, the Question before the House refers specifically to the date of reporting on a matter which arose under Section 1 of the Employment Act. I hope in the fullness of time—and it will not be many weeks at that—we shall make a report on that. The conclusions to be drawn from it are another matter.
§ Lord Wedderburn of CharltonMy Lords, since, as the Minister points out, the section is concerned with companies recording information about employee involvement, will the Government consider asking them to state whether they recognise their employees' independent trade unions? If the Government are not considering that, what other steps do they intend to take in regard to companies that refuse to recognise trade unions, in particular if they are in receipt of public contracts?
§ Lord Young of GraffhamMy Lords, I am trying very hard to confine the answers to the scope of the Question, and I think once again the noble Lord's question has gone right to another matter.