Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what guidance the Certification Officer has produced for trades unions on requirements to compile and maintain an accurate register of members; and what monitoring the Certification Officer undertakes of trades unions' compliance with those requirements.
Answered by Nick Boles
Under Section 24 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, unions are required to compile and maintain an up to date register of members’ names and addresses. The 1992 Act gives a right to members to make a complaint to the Certification Officer if they consider that the union has failed to comply with this duty. The Certification Officer ensures compliance by making enquiries and, where appropriate, issuing an enforcement order, where he finds a breach.
Under the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014, unions will be required to submit a Membership Audit Certificate to the Certification Officer (with the first MACs expected from October this year). This will provide greater assurance that the duty under Section 24 of the 1992 Act is being complied with.
The Certification Officer has not published guidance in relation to these requirements. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published guidance in March 2015.
This guidance, which also sets out previous Certification Officer decisions on how unions can take reasonably practicable steps to comply with this duty, is on the Gov.UK website. A link to this guidance is provided below:
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what sanctions the Certification Officer can implement against trades unions which fail to compile and maintain an accurate register of members; and on what occasions such sanctions have been used in the last 10 years.
Answered by Nick Boles
Section 24(1) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 currently requires trade unions to keep registers of their members’ names and addresses and to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that these registers are accurate and up-to-date.
Under the 1992 Act, if the Certification Officer finds that a union has breached this duty, he must make a declaration of his findings and may make an enforcement order. Failure to comply with the Certification Officer’s enforcement order may be treated as contempt of court.
In the last 10 years, the Certification Officer has made one declaration that Unite the Union breached section 24(1) of the 1992 Act. This case was Mr J Hicks v Unite the Union (No2) (D/32-39/14-15). The Certification Officer decided that it was not appropriate to issue an enforcement order in this case.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information the Certification Officer holds on the number of members of the National Union of Mineworkers in each year from 2003-04 to present.
Answered by Nick Boles
The number of members of the National Union of Mineworkers in each year from 2003-04 to present, as submitted to the Certification Officer, are provided in the two links below.
2003-2012
2012-2014
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-union-of-mineworkers-annual-returns
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information the Certification Officer holds on the number of members of the Northumberland branch of the National Union of Mineworkers in each year from 2003-04 to present.
Answered by Nick Boles
The two links below provide information that the Certification Officer holds on the number of members of the Northumberland branch of the National Union of Mineworkers in each year from 2003 to 2014.
Annual Returns 2003-12
Annual Returns 2012-2014