§ Mr. Waldegraveasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will ask the Certification Officer for trade unions and employers' associations to state separately in his annual report the number of union members in each union who have contracted out of contributing to the political levy, as well as, as at present, the total number who are exempt from contributing.
§ Mr. WaddingtonI am informed by the Certification Officer that information about the political funds of trade unions is contained in an appendix to his annual report. This shows, for each union with a political fund in excess of £10,000, the total number of trade union members and the number of members contributing to their union's political fund. It also provides information on the total number of union members and the number contributing to political funds for all trade unions with political funds. It is, therefore, already possible to determine from the Certification Officer's report the number of trade union members who are not contributing to political funds.
This figure may include members who are exempt from contributing to a political fund because they have completed an exemption notice under the Trade Union Act 1913 as well as those who do not contribute to their union's political fund for other reasons. But no detailed analysis is available.