I was about to attempt to answer the many questions that were put to me. However, before I come to answer the noble Lord’s question, I wanted to say that the noble Lords, Lord Monks and Lord Beecham, and the noble Baroness, Lady Turner of Camden, basically said that they considered Part 3 to be a politically motivated attack on the unions. I think the noble Lord, Lord Monks, used the expression “vindictive attack”. Perhaps I should not be surprised at their reactions, as we are perhaps being accused of placing our tanks on their lawn. That is just not the case; if anything, it may be only the front of the front wheels. However, this is not intended to make it harder for trade unions to operate. They are membership organisations, and as such have a responsibility to their members to keep their register of members’ names and addresses accurate and up to date so far as is reasonably practical. That general principle is already a statutory obligation, and it is right that the Government should try to ensure that these requirements on unions to fulfil this responsibility are adequate. As I said earlier, trade unions are vital participants in the economy. They work with employers to maximise employee engagement and deliver practical solutions to workplace issues. This is why we currently
engage with trade unions on key policy areas, much more widely than we are talking about today, such as employment rights, skills and manufacturing strategy. The Business Secretary regularly meets the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress to discuss current policy matters.
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I would like to address the question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Lea of Crondall, and by the noble Lords, Lord Monks and Lord Whitty. That concerns the RPC report on the BIS impact assessment and the shortfalls and the evidence base, as it was put to me. I am aware that the RPC has argued that we have underestimated costs, particularly with regard to changing union rules. We have received no information on this from unions, despite seeking their estimates on impact. We would be pleased to take any figures into account should they wish to supply them, but we anticipate that unions will have routine written communications with members and also an annual conference and that should allow them to include those routine activities to make steps to make the necessary changes. Perhaps I can reassure noble Lords that we will continue to work with the RPC to see how we can improve the evidence base further and we will take into account any further data that unions and others can supply and choose to supply.
The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, raised the issue of whether there would be any change to the definition of the phrase “so far as is reasonably practical”. The test for unions that they maintain a membership register that is up to date and accurate so far as is reasonably practical has actually existed since 1984 and has been interpreted by the certification officer in decisions made under Section 25 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act. We do not intend statutorily to define it further. It is important that the legislator recognises that the duty takes account of the fact that unions of different sizes and types compile and maintain their membership data in individual and varying ways. At the moment, we anticipate that an assurer will want to check how the union collects data from new joiners, how they remind members about keeping records up to date, the ease with which members can notify changes and how quickly changes are made. We would also expect that an assurer would be interested in the data cleansing processes that larger unions use for electronic databases.
The noble Lord, Lord Monks, raised the issue of the cost to unions. I would like to say a word or two about costs. He said that they would add considerable burdens on the unions. We have assessed the average annual cost as being 6p per union member. I think the noble Lord would have read that earlier. That equates to an average of half a penny a month. However, union monthly subscriptions vary but typically they range from £1 per month to something around £35 a month. We have sought to take an approach which is proportionate and seeks to minimise the burdens on unions.