My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Prosser, as well as my noble friend, for giving me the opportunity to respond to this debate, a fascinating debate covering many different aspects of the great relationship.
The Government recognise the positive role that trade unions can play in the workplace. In a debate last November brought by the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, the House debated that positive role. During that debate, the noble Baroness, Lady Prosser, highlighted from her personal experience some of the important contributions that trade unions can make. Having read the debate and looked carefully at what she said, in the last paragraph of her speech, she mentioned the partnership between workforce and management and how important it was that that worked efficiently for all concerned. I could not agree more.
My experience in this field, apart from a brief period in the 1970s when I was working on the shop floor in an engineering firm in the West Midlands—which was an interesting experience for someone from my background—was up until 2010, when I was a contract manager in the construction industry. I worked for an SME, the backbone of the British economy. We employed 25 to 30 people. I was involved in sending people out to work, finding them work and such like. It was so important that those relationships worked and that there was the engagement mentioned by many noble Lords. It was a non-unionised workforce, but it still worked very well, whether on health and safety or training, but then we were a committed organisation. We worked well with the workforce and it was mutually beneficial.
The noble Lords, Lord Stoneham and Lord Brooke, talked about the importance of employee engagement. I recognise that, and we know that businesses understand it too. The CBI 2015 employment trends survey highlighted that the top priorities for businesses in the coming year are better leadership and employee engagement to foster productive workforces. The noble Lord, Lord Brooke, also referred to information and consultation regulations and said that employees are voiceless in some organisations. Under the information and consultation regulations, employees have a right to request a formal workplace agreement for engagement. That does not apply to workplaces of less than 50 employees—the sort of organisation I was involved with—but employees have greater influences in those workplaces anyway. Also, as we have heard, many
employers involve employees in decision-making processes because it makes good business sense.
We have acknowledged that unions can play an important role in the workplace and have heard many examples in many debates in your Lordships’ House. However, productivity, which was mentioned by the noble Baronesses, Lady Prosser and Lady Donaghy, is not influenced solely by the presence of unions, but by capital investment, innovation, and dynamism of markets—they all have potential to increase productivity, given current record high employment levels. Data from the OECD do not directly indicate a link between trade union density and productivity, but I realise that there are different figures from a wide range of sources. We are very conscious that productivity has to rise, and we are doing a great deal in this area, which I will not go into at present. We also understand the importance of a well-motivated workforce.
The noble Lord, Lord Young of Norwood Green, mentioned apprenticeships, as I suspected he might. The Government accept that apprenticeships and training are key to improving productivity; that is why we are committed to the 3 million apprenticeship starts in England over this Parliament, and making sure that they are of the highest quality possible. We know that the trade union movement will play its part in helping us to deliver this commitment. For example, last year the TUC and the CBI signed a joint commitment to support and promote apprenticeships and traineeships for young people.
It is not right that we restrict how employee engagement can happen. The current approach is flexible and means that businesses have a variety of ways in which to engage with and involve their employers in their businesses. Currently, employers and employees can decide the best mechanisms for engagement and tailor this to address individual workplace needs. This may or may not involve representation through a trade union. The choice for individuals to join or not join a trade union is important. Many workplaces and sectors are not as heavily unionised, and alternative or additional methods have been created for engaging with employers effectively. Therefore, we do not believe that we should restrict the type of engagement that we promote. I do not believe that this amendment will improve industrial relations or employee engagement. But we will take careful note of what has been said.