HL Deb 24 July 1986 vol 479 cc457-8

The Commons have made the following consequential amendments to the Bill:

14 Page 2, line 13, leave out "each employee" and insert "the employees".

15 Page 3, line 19, at end insert— "trade union" and "independent trade union" have the same meaning as in the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974 and "recognised", in relation to an independent trade union, means recognised to any extent for the purpose of collective bargaining (within the meaning of the Employment Protection Act 1975); and any information which is to be given to the representatives of a trade union shall be delivered to them or sent by post to an address notified by them to the employer, or sent by post to the union at the address of its head or main office.".

16 After Clause 1, insert the following new clause:

'Failure to inform or consult trade unions: High Court and Court of Session remedies.

(1) A trade union as respects which the Secretary of State has a duty under section 1 (4B) or (4C) above to give information or enter into consultations may, where it alleges that the Secretary of State has failed to fulfil that duty, bring an action in the High Court for a declaration as to whether or not he has failed to fulfil that duty, and the Court may make a declaration accordingly.

(2) In Scotland, a trade union as respects which the Secretary of State has a duty under section 1(4B) or (4C) above to give information or enter into consultations may, where it alleges that the Secretary of State has failed to fulfil that duty, raise an action in the Court of Session for a declarator as to whether or not he has failed to fulfil that duty, and the Court may make a declarator accordingly.

(3) No proceedings may be brought under this section if a complaint to an industrial tribunal has been made under the provisions applied by section 1(4A) above.'.

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their consequential amendments Nos. 14 to 16.

Lord Kennet

My Lords, this stage is as good as any other to ask the noble Lord, Lord Trefgarne, whether he is ready to say something in answer to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Vickers, about the disappearance of the word "Royal" from the title of the Bill. I put down a Question at an earlier stage asking what the precedent was for calling a private company the "The Royal something company" as in the Royal Dockyard Company, which would result from the Bill. I received the Answer that it was not customary publicly to give the reasons why Her Majesty the Queen assented or refused the use of the description "Royal" before a private body. That clearly implies that the question has been put to the Queen and that she has accepted the idea.

Unless I am mistaken, the word has vanished from the Bill's Title. An explanation to the House may be in order at this point.

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, this was a matter about which I wrote to my noble friend Lady Vickers recently. Perhaps with my noble friend's permission I may pass a copy of the letter to the noble Lord, Lord Kennet.

Baroness Vickers

My Lords, why are the words "Royal Dockyards" printed in the Bill?

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, the question of what appears on the face of the Bill and what may ultimately emerge as the name of the organisation is, if I may say so, a different one.

Lord Kennet

My Lords, with the leave of the House, this is a matter that may be of wider interest than is simply to be satisfied by a letter to the noble Baroness, Lady Vickers, and myself. Two questions should be of interest to the House. Has there been a change in the Short Title of the Bill during its passage through Parliament? And, if so, why?

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, if I have your Lordships' permission to speak for the third or the fourth time on the matter, no, there has been no change—I have not noticed it anyway—to the Short Title of the Bill during its passage through your Lordships' House. If the noble Lord wants wider dissemination of the letter that I have written to my noble friend Lady Vickers or of this matter generally, I should be happy to reply promptly to any further question, say for written Answer, that he may like to table.