My Lords, I start by making a general point. Over the last few years, we have seen a step change in the way that the Government, businesses and other organisations provide information to the public. Such transparency strengthens the public’s trust in organisations, can help to drive efficiency and encourages greater public participation in decision-making. As I have said before, we want to give union members more information about how the political fund is used so that members can make an informed choice on whether to contribute.
As far as I am aware, trade unions are the only type of organisation in the UK that collectively spends millions of pounds, as my noble friend Lord Leigh of Hurley has reminded us, on political activities, using funds taken from members on the basis of presumed consent. That is why the Bill ensures that unions respect the principles of transparency. There are also restrictions on companies when they make political donations. Our proposals build on current practice in relation to expenditure on political objects and are similar to the current reporting requirement on political expenditure by companies, where the threshold is, of course, £2,000. I know what the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, said, but I think that there is a strong logic there.
We have looked at the annual returns that the 25 unions with political funds provide to the Certification Officer, whose work, as the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, said, we will discuss in more detail on day 4 in Committee. We do not expect that unions that currently comply
with good practice will have a problem with our proposals but, as the noble Lord, Lord Collins, made clear, there is a significant variation in the amount of information on political fund expenditure that unions make available. Take the Communication Workers Union: it provides a very detailed breakdown of spend on political objects, including on election campaigns, affiliation fees and delegations to conferences, whereas the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers gives no breakdown at all. We need more consistency so members can see what is happening and whether they want to contribute.
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The ballot the noble Lord mentioned takes place every 10 years, which is not very often. Our review of the forms for online membership of the 25 unions with political funds showed that 12—nearly half—do not mention the existence of a political fund.
Amendments 72 and 73 would not support the transparency we need. Amendment 72 would increase the threshold by 25 times. That would dramatically reduce the supply of information, especially as Amendment 73 would also limit reporting to the overall amount of expenditure.
My noble friend Lord Leigh asked about coverage. As I think we have already said, we are not amending the categories of political objects in the current legislation. They have been in place for 30 years. Campaigns mentioned today, such as those which support anti-racism—for example, HOPE not hate—are considered political in nature and must be made from the political fund. That is the approach taken by the Certification Officer, but I will certainly make the check my noble friend requested.
My noble friend Lord Cormack asked about the consideration of the report by the Select Committee on Clauses 10 and 11. I noted what he said, but arrangement of House of Lords business is a matter for the Chief Whip and the usual channels. Of course we will consider what the Select Committee report says, but we have a manifesto commitment to implement a transparent opt-in process for contributing to a union’s political fund, so our consideration will be in the context of the manifesto commitment as noble Lords would expect.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to set out why I believe so strongly in the need for and value of transparency and consistency generally and in the information that unions make available to their members. I urge the noble Lord to withdraw the amendment.