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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, the Minister’s wish is not entirely going to be fulfilled. Lack of time in the House of Commons yesterday meant that no discussion took place on this amendment and that there was only a vote, which the Government, not unexpectedly, won. I say ““not unexpectedly””, but I believe that there were people on the Government Benches who understood the positions of both the police and prison officers on this matter, who might have had more courage and given them support. I make no apology for returning to this issue, although the Government have now made it the subject of the privilege amendment, thus denying us the opportunity of voting on it again this evening. But it is matter of such importance that it will do no harm for me to rehearse again our concerns. Pay awards for both services are subject to independent pay review bodies: the Police Negotiating Board and the Prison Service Pay Review Body. These bodies, along with the Armed Forces’ review body, with which we are not allowed to deal under this amendment because it is not appropriate in this Bill, were set up to ensure that these key public sector workers , who do not have the right to strike, were not, as a result, disadvantaged in pay negotiations. They each have a clear remit from the Government as to affordability and their inflation targets, which they must—not unreasonably—take into account. But having done so, they are free to put forward firm recommendations. Last year, for the first time, the Government went to arbitration on the proposed police settlement of 2.8 per cent, having, as the noble Lord, Lord Dear, told us at the previous stage, already altered in 2006 the basket of occupations, which were the ingredients against which police pay and allowances should be measured on an annual basis. Arbitration produced an agreed, binding settlement of 2.5 per cent, but the Government ended up implementing 1.9 per cent in a staged award. The result of reneging on both a binding agreement and an understanding that the pay review bodies’ recommendations would be implemented was the unedifying sight of the police march, and the Government’s scramble to get this Bill through before tomorrow, to prevent a strike by the Prison Officers’ Association, which, having agreed a voluntary ban on striking, was equally disadvantaged, and is due, following the end of the voluntary ban, to strike later this week—hence the Government’s agitation to get those clauses through. The amendment does not say that the Government should always implement the pay bodies’ recommendations. It says that if they are not going to do so they must seek the view of Parliament before they renege, explain their reasons, and have those reasons supported by affirmation. For Parliament, we must read the House of Commons. If the Government were trying to limit a pay increase and were over-ridden, that might have an effect on their financial targets and is a matter, apparently, for the House of Commons alone. I am not at all comfortable with that argument or with the privilege amendment moved against the amendment as it seems to me that the Government are under a moral obligation to accept the recommendations and to have made allowances for them. We believe that they should have the courage of their convictions, stand by binding arbitration, implement for these services what is recommended, and, if they will not do so, explain themselves and seek parliamentary support for their denial of this undertaking. For now there is little more that I can do to move the Government in the direction in which I believe they should go. Other opportunities will have to be found to give these public servants confidence and security in their pay body findings. The voluntary ban on the prison officers’ strike will now end and become mandatory as a result of the Bill. In not reaching a settlement the Government have let them and the police down.