Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

moved Amendment No. 2: 2: Clause 18, page 16, line 30, at end insert— ““(A1) On expulsion or exclusion from membership of a trade union on grounds of membership of a political party, a proper balance shall be struck on the facts and circumstances of the case as between the entitlement under the European Convention of Human Rights of the trade union of freedom of association and of the individual’s entitlement to seek or retain membership of the union; due account having been taken of any consequential adverse effect of employment. (A2) Subsection (A1) may be implemented by Order in Council made by the Secretary of State as guidance having legal efficacy subject to affirmation by each House of Parliament.”” The noble Lord said: I shall speak also to Amendment No. 3 in my name and the important additional and wider amendment in this group in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale. This issue is carried over from Report. It is an important attempt at the last minute, under the procedures of this House, to take account of what I believe are the special circumstances of Scottish civil procedure. Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 are much narrower than Amendment No. 19. They relate to Clause 35, which deals exclusively with registered agreements in Scotland. Minutes of agreement registered in the Books of Council and Session are enforceable ab initio in a way that puts them in a separate category; indeed, law relating to the Child Support Agency has, in many of its facets, been distinct and separate north of the border. Therefore there are circumstances where we should look carefully at Amendment No. 2. The amendments would leave minutes of agreement registered in the Books of Council and Session outside the CMEC remit for four years across the jurisdiction of Scotland. That would take a very small number of often complicated cases out of the new commission’s hands. If the Government cannot see their way clear to going so far as that, I wish to make a plea. Although Clause 41 provides an opportunity for pilot schemes, they would be restricted to a two-year period, and I do not know that that would give anyone a chance of working out whether the provision was helpful. Still, my suggestion is potentially a pilot scheme type if the Government are not prepared to go for the full four-year period proposed in Amendment No. 2. I understand that the Minister was as good as his word and kindly agreed at the last minute to meet some of the specialists from the Law Society of Scotland. Alas, the follow-up meetings have not been able to take place in the recess in advance of Royal Assent being given to the statute, but he could help the House by explaining how those discussions went. The least that he might consider doing, if he does not accept the amendments, is to talk seriously to the commission about the prospects of what might be a pilot or might not, and to continue to explore the possibilities that are available north of the border, having regard to the special civil procedural differences that apply there, to see whether there is some way of accommodating some of the concerns that are at the forefront of the minds of some of the key practitioners in Scotland. I beg to move.