§ 65. Mr. Leatherasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that certain staffs of the Customs and Excise Department are being required to sign a document disclosing their particular trade union membership in order to be represented on the Departmental Whitley Council; and whether, since both the administration and the recognised unions have a joint responsibility to ensure the effective working of Whitley Councils, be will give an assurance that any member of the staff of this Department who, being a member of a recognised union but unwilling to sign this document which is given publicity outside his union, will not be denied representation on the Departmental Whitley Council as a consequence.
§ Mr. Jay:The requirement is that in certain circumstances the application of an association for membership of the Joint Staff Committee, by which seats on the staff side of the Departmental Whitley Council are allocated, has to be supported by a declaration of membership of the association by its members. This requirement is one which has been laid down by the Joint Staff Committee itself for its own purposes, and it would not be in the interests of the effective working of the Whitley machinery for the official side to interfere in the staff side's internal concerns.