King’s Speech 2024: Education
Research briefing setting out the government’s commitments covering education for the House of Lords debate on the 2024 King’s Speech.
This briefing provides information in support of the House of Lords consideration of the Trade Union Bill.
Trade Union Bill (421 KB , PDF)
The Trade Union Bill seeks to reform several elements of trade union administration, including but not limited to:
The introduction of turnout thresholds for industrial action ballots.
- The introduction of additional requirements for the setting up of lawful pickets.
- The extension of the powers of the Certification Officer.
- The replacement of the current ‘opt-out’ system for trade union political funds with an ‘opt-in’ system.
- The establishment of a regulation making power through which requirements would be placed upon some or all public sector employers to publish information relating to facility time.
- The introduction of a prohibition on certain public sector employers providing a “check-off” service to their employees.
The Conservative Party’s 2015 manifesto included a number of commitments including plans to introduce thresholds for ballots, an opt-in process for trade union political funds, changes to facility time, and to reform the role of the Certification Officer. The Bill’s provisions on check-off were added during the Commons committee stage, and did not feature in the manifesto. The Government is also currently consulting on provisions to allow employers to hire agency staff during strikes but such provisions do not feature in the Bill. The Government has also recently concluded a consultation on “tackling intimidation of non-striking workers”. During the Bill’s report stage in the House of Commons, on 11 November 2015, four amendments were divided upon, and three Government amendments were agreed without division. The Government amendments related to the Bill’s picketing provisions.
Trade Union Bill (421 KB , PDF)
Research briefing setting out the government’s commitments covering education for the House of Lords debate on the 2024 King’s Speech.
Research briefing setting out the government’s commitments covering economic affairs, business and trade for the House of Lords debate on the 2024 King’s Speech.
This briefing is the fourth of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy. The series proceeds decade-by-decade from the 1950s onwards, providing an overview of the key macroeconomic developments of each decade. This briefing looks at the 1980s. The decline in the profitability of industry, which began in the 1960s, was reversed in this decade; however, the share of national income received by workers fell to a post-war low.