Draft Code of Practice on Reasonable Steps to be taken by a Trade Union (Minimum Service Levels)

Debate between Chris Stephens and Patrick Grady

Monday 27th November 2023 General Committees

[Chris Stephens]

I agree with all that. I know that this will surprise some Conservative Members, but I do believe that there are unscrupulous employers out there. I believe that unscrupulous employers already use existing anti-trade union legislation to try to stop industrial action taking place with some daft minutiae over lists of members and so on. The point I was making is the Government have already imposed extremely high thresholds that trade unios must cross before industrial action takes place.

The draft code of practice does not achieve the necessary clarity of what the duty will mean in practice for trade unions. Instead it presents issues for trade unions over how they will be able practically to implement the proposals. It creates incredibly unrealistic timescales on unions, requiring them to start identifying members

“as soon as reasonably practical”

after receiving a work notice. Such weasel words threaten vindictive penalties for being unable to guess what a Conservative Minster thinks is “reasonable”.

I will refer to some surprising comments from the Royal College of Nursing. They are surprising because the RCN was advised that the legislation would not affect it at all, but perhaps it was not too surprised to discover that that was not the case. A Minister at the Dispatch Box told nurses that the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill was “not about nurses.” That was always flagrantly untrue, as the RCN clearly stated at the time. Specifically, the Leader of the House said on 26 January 2023 that the Bill was “not about nurses”, and that it was “wrong” to suggest that it was.

Through its draft regulations for NHS ambulance services and the NHS patient transport service, the Government are now explicitly seeking to impose minimum service levels that apply specifically to nursing staff in ambulance services. The RCN asks that Parliament, including Members present here, should hold the Government to their words and reject regulations that would impose minimum service levels on nursing staff.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

Like my hon. Friend, I am a member of Unison in Glasgow. All the concerns that he has raised about how the code applies to the NHS, and particularly how it applies to nurses, have been raised with me by constituents. They are incredibly concerned about the pernicious nature of the Government’s legislation and their actions more generally. My hon. Friend was right to say earlier that the way to avoid strike action in the NHS and across our public services is to have decent industrial relations, to invest in them properly, and to welcome people into this country who are willing to supplement the workforce, which is so desperately crying out for more pairs of hands.

[Chris Stephens]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I hope that the Minister takes that on board because good industrial relations mean a happy workforce, and there is actually less industrial action when we have good industrial relations.

I will conclude, Ms Nokes, with some comments about Scotland. That will not surprise you, nor anyone in this Committee. I have already referred to how a different and more respectful approach towards public service employees in Scotland has resulted in greater harmony and far fewer strikes. The RCN explicitly recognised that the imposition of the proposed code of practice on Scotland and Wales would be additionally problematic, as it would explicitly contradict the wishes of the elected devolved Administrations. We will look to see whether the UK Government can echo a similar respect for Scottish rights and autonomy as that shown by trade union colleagues south of the border.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Stephens and Patrick Grady

Wednesday 6th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

2. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the increased cost of living on people in Northern Ireland.

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

7. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the increased cost of living on people in Northern Ireland.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Stephens and Patrick Grady

Tuesday 16th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

4. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on access to justice.

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

14. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on access to justice.

Loan Charge 2019: Sir Amyas Morse Review

Debate between Chris Stephens and Patrick Grady

Thursday 19th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

Let me first congratulate the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) on his brilliant introduction to this issue and on standing up for the victims of this scandal—and it is a scandal. I am a proud member of the all-party parliamentary loan charge group.

Two constituents, Fraser Kennedy and Jason Millington, have been in regular contact about this issue. Indeed, one Monday morning, as I was travelling down to Westminster, I got the fright of my life when I saw the number of Twitter notifications I had. It surprised me because it had been a quiet weekend, so I knew I had not said or done anything particularly controversial—at least not that particular weekend. It was a tweet from Jason Millington, who said that what had kept him going was that he had the support of me and so many other MPs in fighting this injustice.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on avoiding controversy and recommend that for all Scottish National party MPs.

I have had two constituents get in touch and I have tried to make representations on their behalf, because they found themselves in a situation that they absolutely did not intend to be in because of the information that they were given. Does this not show the importance of constituents getting in touch with us? I understand from the people running the all-party parliamentary loan charge group that there may be more such constituents out there, and it is very important that they contact their MPs so that we can give them tailored advice and support.

[Chris Stephens]

My hon. Friend is right; that is very sound advice. Everyone who has spoken so far today has been a credit not just to the House, but to their constituents, because there are far too many people—such as my constituents, his constituents and others—who are in despair because of this issue.