3:00 pm
Brian Strutton: What has been explained to us as the process that lies behind clause 215 is that the Secretary of State cannot give ratified orders on anything that he has not referred to the body in a formal letter. Unions and employers have found it hard to reconcile that with our understanding of how negotiations work.
As you can see, we are all long-in-the-tooth negotiators, ladies excepted, and we know the way in which negotiating bodies have to operate. Things happen very quickly. The ability to strike a deal while parties are ready is crucial. The idea that having reached the point of agreement, we have to seek permission from the Government machine to strike the deal seems to us to be a barrier to the proper operation of a negotiating body. Given that the negotiating body has the Department sitting in as observers and that it has an independent chair who is a conduit to Ministers, we fail to understand why in addition we must seek permission to reach agreements. The independent chair and the Department are in the room to ensure that we are told if we are doing anything inappropriate. Therefore the requirement to seek permission in clause 215(3) should simply be deleted.