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Blacklisting (Construction Industry)

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham) on securing the debate. I begin with something of an apology to you, Mr. Speaker, and to him for the slightly weak nature of my voice tonight. I hope that I manage to get through my response. This subject is important and topical. The Government believe that people have a right to join a trade union if they so wish. That is a free choice and should not result in their being denied employment, so I share my hon. Friend's concerns about the recent revelations in the construction industry. He is right that that industry is of particular concern, because the safety of workers can be at stake as well as their employment. The freedom to belong to a trade union is a key human right set out in many international treaties, including the European convention on human rights. Trade union representatives and activists—we should not forget that they are mostly unpaid volunteers—perform an important and valuable role in the workplace. For the most part they work in partnership with employers, but of course sometimes they challenge them. That can be when tensions arise, but it is important that trade union representatives are not subject to victimisation. The practice of blacklisting should be anathema in today's Britain. It is a relic of the past, and if what has occurred recently in the construction industry is blacklisting rearing its head again, of course we will take that seriously. I shall come to what we are doing to address that, but first I shall briefly set out some of the protections that currently exist. Sections 137, 146 and 152 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 make it unlawful for an employer to refuse employment, cause someone to lose out at work or dismiss someone on the ground of trade union membership or activities. Those rights have been in place for decades, although we made some modifications in, for example, the Employment Relations Acts 1999 and 2004, providing more protection against victimising workers for using a union's services. My hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone also referred to the Data Protection Act 1998. To run any system, an organisation needs to manage a large amount of data, and organisations or persons managing such data are classed under the Act as data controllers. That means that they must register with the Information Commissioner—failure to do that is a criminal offence. In accordance with the Act's data protection principles, data controllers must make proportionate and fair use of data. Trade union membership is classified as "sensitive personal data". According to the Act, it is unlawful, save for a few exceptions, to process such data without the subject's explicit consent. Since blacklisting is, by its nature, a covert activity, it is impossible to operate a blacklist successfully and stay within the provisions of the Act. The Information Commissioner has strong powers to investigate cases in which he thinks the Act is being breached. He used them extensively during his investigation into the affairs of the Consulting Association, which I will call TCA. He secured two search warrants and confiscated a large amount of material. One prosecution has begun. He can also issue enforcement notices, which require persons to act in accordance with the 1998 Act by taking, or refraining from taking steps. One enforcement notice has so far been issued. My hon. Friend mentioned section 3 of the Employment Relations Act 1999, which provides a power for making regulations to outlaw blacklisting. As he said, we have produced draft regulations, on which we consulted in 2003. They would allow individuals to obtain compensation for being refused employment or for suffering discrimination by their employer because of their inclusion on a trade union blacklist. Those complaints would be determined by the employment tribunal. In addition, people, including trade unions, could claim damages from the compilers, disseminators and users of the blacklists for financial loss.