House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee Blacklisting in Employment Oral and written evidence HC 156-I House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee Blacklisting in Employment Oral and written evidence Oral evidence ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 22 May, 12 and 19 June, 10 and 17 July, 4 September, 16 and 30 October, 6 and 27 November 2012; 22 January, 5 and 12 February and 5 and 12 March 2013 Written evidence ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 26 March 2013 HC 156-I Published on 16 April 2013 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Scottish Affairs Committee The Scottish Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Scotland Office (including (i) relations with the Scottish Parliament and (ii) administration and expenditure of the offices of the Advocate General for Scotland (but excluding individual cases and advice given within government by the Advocate General)). Current membership Mr Ian Davidson MP (Labour/Co-op, Glasgow South West) (Chair) Mike Crockart MP (Liberal Democrat, Edinburgh West) Mrs Eleanor Laing MP (Conservative, Epping Forest) Jim McGovern MP (Labour, Dundee West) Graeme Morrice MP (Labour, Livingston) Pamela Nash MP (Labour, Airdrie and Shotts) Sir Jim Paice MP (Conservative, South East Cambridgeshire) Simon Reevell MP (Conservative, Dewsbury) Mr Alan Reid MP (Liberal Democrat, Argyll and Bute) Lindsay Roy MP (Labour, Glenrothes) Dr Eilidh Whiteford MP (Scottish National Party, Banff and Buchan) The following members were also members of the committee during the Parliament: Fiona Bruce MP (Conservative, Congleton) Mike Freer MP (Conservative, Finchley and Golders Green) Cathy Jamieson MP (Labour/Co-op, Kilmarnock and Loudoun) Mark Menzies MP (Conservative, Fylde) Iain McKenzie MP (Labour, Inverclyde) David Mowat MP (Conservative, Warrington South) Fiona O’Donnell MP (Labour, East Lothian) Julian Smith MP (Conservative, Skipton and Ripon) Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/scotaffcom. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present parliament is at the back of this volume. The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some or all written evidence are available in a printed volume. Additional written evidence may be published on the internet only. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Eliot Wilson (Clerk), Duma Langton (Inquiry Manager), Gabrielle Hill (Senior Committee Assistant) and Ravi Abhayaratne (Committee Support Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Scottish Affairs Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6123; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] List of witnesses Tuesday 22 May 2012 Page Maria Fyfe, former Glasgow MP and leading anti-blacklisting campaigner Ev 1 Tuesday 12 June 2012 Dave Smith, Blacklist Support Group Ev 6 Tuesday 19 June 2012 Francis Graham and Steuart Merchant Ev 23 Tuesday 10 July 2012 Nancy Kelley, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Dr Alistair Geddes, University of Dundee, and Professor Gary Craig, Durham University Ev 32 Tuesday 17 July 2012 Ian Livsey, Chief Executive Officer, and David Nix, Head of Licensing, Gangmasters Licensing Authority Ev 56 John Picken, Vice-President, National Farmers Union of Scotland, and Melanie Leech, Director General, Food and Drink Federation Ev 72 Tuesday 4 September 2012 Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary, Unite, Justin Bowden, National Officer, GMB, and Harry Donaldson, Regional Secretary, GMB Scotland Ev 82 Tuesday 16 October 2012 David Smith, Deputy Information Commissioner, and David Clancy, Investigations Manager, Information Commissioner’s Office Ev 95 Tuesday 30 October 2012 Steve Murphy, General Secretary, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, and Jim Kennedy, National Political Officer, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians Ev 112 Tuesday 6 November 2012 Alan Wainwright Ev 123 Tuesday 27 November 2012 Mr Ian Kerr, former Chief Officer of The Consulting Association Ev 137 Tuesday 22 January 2013 Cullum McAlpine, Director, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd Ev 168 Tuesday 5 February 2013 Jack Winder, former Director, Caprim Ltd Ev 186 Tuesday 12 February 2013 Stanley Hardy TD, former Director, Caprim Ltd Ev 202 Tuesday 5 March 2013 Harvey Francis, Executive Vice-President, Human Resources, Communications and IT, Skanska UK Ev 218 Tuesday 12 March 2013 Mike Peasland, CEO, Construction Services UK, Balfour Beatty Ev 235 List of written evidence 1 Kenny Newton Ev 264 2 Joseph Rowntree Foundation Ev 264 3 Unite Ev 265 4 Supplementary Unite Ev 269 5 Gangmasters Licensing Authority Ev 269 6 Carillion Ev 275 7 Additional Carrillion Ev 280 8 Alan Wainwright Ev 282 9 UCATT Ev 289 10 Information Commissioner’s Office Ev 290 11 Ian Kerr Ev 291 12 Cullum McAlpine, Director of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. Ev 293 13 Supplementary Cullum McAlpine, Director of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. Ev 294 14 John Swinney MSP Ev 298 15 George Fuller Ev 301 16 Harvey Francis, Skanska UK PLC Ev 303 17 Balfour Beatty Ev 304 18 Chidi Obihara Ev 306 19 Mike Peasland Ev 307 cobber Pack: U PL: COE1 [SO] Processed: [15-04-2013 13:14] Job: 024848 Unit: PG01 Source: /MILES/PKU/INPUT/024848/024848_o001_db_Corrected - SAC 22nd May 2012.xml Scottish Affairs Committee: Evidence Ev 1 Oral evidence Taken before the Scottish Affairs Committee on Tuesday 22 May 2012 Members present: Mr Ian Davidson (Chair) Jim McGovern Lindsay Roy Pamela Nash ________________ Examination of Witness Witness: Maria Fyfe, former Glasgow MP and leading anti-blacklisting campaigner, gave evidence. Q1 Chair: Could I welcome you, Maria, to this records kept on them, and in 1986 alone they meeting of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee on responded to an estimated 200,000 inquiries about the subject of blacklisting in employment? You are applicants for jobs. our first witness, and we specifically wanted you to I would like to make the point here that, in all those come along to give us some of the historical sweep, names, it is quite possible that a large number of them because you have been involved in this obviously for were holding correct information but not information quite a while. If it is agreeable, we would ask you to that most of us would think was detrimental to their start, so to speak, and then allow Members to interrupt characters. If, for example, somebody was a safety rep maybe and raise points as we go rather than saving in a company, that would be held against them. Most them all up to the end. Could you start off by telling of us would think that being a safety rep was a good us who you are and the various elements in your thing to be and praiseworthy, if anything, and not background where you have been involved in this? something to be held against them. In an awful lot of Maria Fyfe: My name is Maria Fyfe. I retired from cases—this is what transpired out of the “World in Parliament in 2001, having been MP for Glasgow Action” programme—they found out that a great Maryhill. When I was elected in 1987, in that year many people who were listed were listed for the most “World in Action” ran a series of television absurd reasons. Information was given against them programmes about the Economic League and its that was plain wrong and sometimes ludicrously activities. In one of those programmes a constituent wrong. I can give you some examples, if the of mine was named, a woman called Carol Craig, who Committee would like. was astonished to learn that she was on a blacklist and Probably everyone here has heard of Sir Kenneth discovered it was because she was a keen activist for Alexander, a professor of economics, chancellor of anti-apartheid and they had nothing else written about Aberdeen university, and an ex-chairman of the her. They did not apologise or withdraw it. They did Highland and Islands Development Board. He was nothing. listed as being a member of the Socialist Workers I had already been aware of blacklisting as an issue in Party. It was this kind of absurdity that really got the trade union movement, because my previous job through to people. before I was an MP was teaching classes for the TUC. I was not aware of anything having been done at the Q2 Chair: I take it that he was not a member of the parliamentary level up until that time. It occurred to Socialist Workers Party. me that, while it was good to have television programmes exposing this kind of thing, the media Maria Fyfe: No, he was not. rolls on and there is always something else hitting the headlines, it seemed to me right to organise a Q3 Lindsay Roy: So what if he had been? campaign to keep up the pressure about blacklisting. Maria Fyfe: Exactly. Let me tell you what the So I formed an all-party group in Parliament and a Economic League were doing. They said it themselves wider membership in the country at large, consisting at the time. The way they formed their list was by of members of the public, trade unionists, academics, combing letters to newspapers, especially the left- all sorts.