Offender Management Bill

My Lords, it is not surprising that, as a former union official, I am in favour of collective bargaining, and national collective bargaining in appropriate circumstances.In this situation, the circumstances are indeed appropriate. As my noble friend pointed out at some length—she made an excellent case, and I have no need to repeat it—we are looking here at career progression in a profession. Obviously, as has been pointed out, if you have a national profession, people expect to have terms and conditions of service that apply across the whole structure. On localism, it has already been pointed out that there is a modernised pay structure in operation,with certain flexibilities. There is a job evaluation in operation, which allows for variance. Geographical aspects and market forces can be taken care of under the same arrangement. Therefore, the limited localism which is necessary in the structure is already provided for. As my noble friend pointed out, if we wereto depart from a national collective bargaining arrangement, the result would simply be anarchic and very, very bad for morale. I hope that my noble friend will be able to accept this amendment. Everybody who has spoken in the debate so far has been in favour of it, and I am sure that my noble friend on the Front Bench would like to respond in a similar way.I hope he is able to do so.