My Lords, on this occasion I cannot say that I am happy with the Minister’s response. The nature of the board, together with the expertise of the personnel of the ONR, will determine the degree of confidence there is in the ONR. On the issue not of worker representation in the sense of somebody who represents the workers of the nuclear industry on the board but of someone who has knowledge of working concerns, which in HSE terms has normally been a trade union representative, the fact is that the Government are taking out of the HSE an important, high profile and, in industrial relations and personnel terms, quite a delicate part of its responsibilities. They are abandoning what was the great strength of the HSE, that at the highest level it had tripartite representation which had the confidence of all sides of industry and the Government. Most of the other provisions of these clauses of the Bill reflect procedures and responsibilities which have been directly or indirectly under the aegis of the HSE. It is odd that the one thing removed is the HSE’s governance, which has proved its worth for over 40 years. That is a serious mistake.
Expertise in nuclear safety management affects the confidence that the management of the industry has in the ONR. One hopes management will have confidence in the inspectorate and the chief inspector, but it has been put to me and I expect it has been put to the Government that the operators of nuclear installations want to think that there is somebody who knows their side of the story in the governance structure. They are worried that that is not prescribed in the Bill. The Minister says the Secretary of State will make a judgment and it is quite possible that he will appoint people with these qualifications or background, but the Government do not want to stipulate that in the Bill. However sometimes it is the Bill which gives the confidence and the particular appointments are what give confidence. At the moment we are potentially reducing the confidence that workers in the nuclear industry might have in the governance and therefore the direction of the ONR—unnecessarily threatening it, because the rest of the provisions, I think, look after their interests well. We are also threatening the confidence of management of nuclear sites in the overall governance of the ONR.
These may not be big issues in practice but in certain circumstances they could become big issues. It is therefore important that the Government take on board the argument so that, if we cannot stipulate it in the Bill, the Secretary of State will have regard to these two dimensions to make sure that the ONR operates not only in the best traditions of the HSE but in a way that inspires confidence in the industry and the workforce. I fear that, by not accepting this amendment, the Minister may be jeopardising both. It would not be a big thing for either proposal to be included, maybe not in the terms that I have them here but in terms of how the Secretary of State should look at appointments to the governing body.
I am disappointed. I thank my noble friend Lord Stoddart—who I think I can call my noble friend on this occasion—and my noble friend Lord Judd for their support for my position. I regret that the Minister has not been positive. I am slightly surprised that the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, was not more supportive at least on the first of the propositions, but I understand his position. However I do not fully understand the Government’s position and I hope that they will think again. For the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.