Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

With opposing views expressed, I hope to be able satisfy everybody. I should explain first that my enthusiastic nodding represented not necessarily government policy but the experience of someone who has spent most of his life in the trade union movement, a lot of it as a full-time officer and general secretary in a trade union that never paid one penny to any political party. However, I was always genuinely grateful for the many activities of the union—not those that directly benefited the membership, but those that benefited the community at large—that were carried out by people serving as nominees of the trade union’s governing and regional bodies at no expense to the union and at no benefit to the people doing them. There are some 7 million people in the trade union movement who are doing a whole host of things, such as health and safety education and the various representative activities mentioned by my noble friend Lord Lea. There is a lot of opportunity there, which, in the context of volunteering overall, it would be a mistake to ignore. However, I am seeking to resist the amendment. It would not be appropriate to include trade union activities in the Bill. That makes it necessary for me to answer the question posed by noble friend Lord Lea, which was where trade unions fit in, and that of my noble friend Lord Morris, on qualification. I think that the answer is relatively simple. We should ask the design group to consult the TUC. The TUC knows which of its activities would fit in the areas that are identified as being voluntary work. We would know from that discussion how that would relate to the question of refereeing and monitoring. That would provide the opportunity to avoid some of the fears that the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, expressed in her contribution, the first part of which I was in total agreement with. I have volunteered for a number of organisations, including political parties, in my life, but I have to say that in few cases have I been moved by passion. It has come about normally by accident, or I have been pushed by somebody who has said, "Do me a favour and come along to this meeting". Often, getting involved without any great commitment has led to my being very interested and continuing the involvement long after the pressure from friends has subsided. I agree with the point made by the noble Baroness that we should not see volunteering as some kind of passionate activity, with everybody having to be motivated by passion and no one having to be incentivised. It is different from being told, "You, you and you will volunteer". When my noble friend Lord Judd felt that he could not resist the volunteering request, he knew that there was a penalty, which presumably was not necessarily that he would be put on charges, but that something would be held against him in relation to his service by the same NCO. It was therefore an invitation that he could not refuse. We are not doing that in the Bill. People who do not wish to volunteer will still qualify as citizens. They will take a decision based on their understanding of what they can volunteer for, which is why the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, is very important: we must tell people what they can do that will benefit them, as well as society, when they become active citizens. I ask my noble friend to withdraw the amendment, but express my enthusiasm for what is being done by trade unions by nodding my head.