Trades Unions and Liberty Call for Action on Blacklisting

The motion

That the Parliament supports the call that has been made by the trades unions GMB and UCATT for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to take proactive action to inform people whose details are understood to have been held on a blacklist by the Consulting Association; considers that such a blacklist is likely to have severely curtailed people's chances of finding work and limited their earnings; understands that most of those reportedly on the list are construction workers, but that it also includes academics, journalists, lawyers and politicians; further understands that the trades union Unite has held a number of demonstrations against the use of blacklisting and has pursued claims against construction companies and others connected with the Consulting Association; supports the call from the campaign group Liberty for the ICO to reopen its investigation on the 44 companies in the construction industry that it understands made use of an unlawful database held by the Consulting Association; believes that the purpose of this was to limit legitimate trades union activity and reduce essential reporting of health and safety concerns; further calls on the ICO to investigate and publish the extent of each company’s involvement in blacklisting operations and to establish whether any unlawful practices are continuing, and is disappointed by the Department of Work and Pensions decision to appoint Howard Shiplee, an executive director of Laing O'Rourke, a firm, which, it understands, has been linked by the ICO to the blacklisting of trade unionists and a client of the Consulting Association, to the board of the Health and Safety Executive.

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

Lab 17 SNP 8

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S4M-03923 by reference.