I cannot speak for the CBI, but successive Ministers have always said that they are willing to hear suggestions from the TUC. This is not a propitious time to go into details of the amendments, for the reasons I have given. However, I believe that this is the time for the new Secretary of State to commission a suitable group, including, I hope, trade unionists, to study objectively how the Act has worked in practice as opposed to how we on each side of the House claim that it has worked. That would be of great value to the next administration, not merely in saving time with up-to-date information but in showing the public that there is some genuine common ground between both sides of the House and that there is some hope and real desire on the part of the House to improve industrial relations rather than to use industrial relations as an excuse for a continuing political wrangle, which is what our proceedings must often look like to an outsider.

There is much to study. As a start we need to know more about the functioning of the court. The hon. and learned Member for Montgomery has truthfully said that we do not know what it really does. Even we, as Members of Parliament, glean most of our knowledge from newspaper accounts of its more sensational findings, impositions and the sayings of the judge. It is assumed that most of the court's time is spent dealing with cases of alleged unfair industrial practice and so on. In fact these are a small part of its case-load. The court handles many cases under the various collective bargaining provisions, some of which end up in a reference to the CIR. It handles hundreds of appeals from tribunals refusing redundancy payments.

I would like to know how the original idea of the court, that it would be far less formal and more industrially based, is working in practice. Despite the lack of trade union representation I have heard no suggestion of a lack of industrial knowledge. On the other hand, the informality is less evident. If a party appeals from the NIRC to the Court of Appeal it is obliged to employ counsel, with all the costs involved, especially if it loses its appeal.

I agree with the Industrial Society that no individual or organisation should be permitted to take a case to the court or to an industrial tribunal until domestic procedures have been exhausted and conciliation by an independent body or voluntary reference to the CIR has taken place. I have always been a believer in registration, but I would not go to the stake for it. The very word is now so emotionally charged that the Registrar is totally, and I would have thought permanently, unacceptable to the unions. The vindictiveness with which the TUC has treated the Seamen's Union and Equity, despite the justification of their case, proves my point if proof is needed.

Instead of registration, unions and other organisations could have their accounts audited and their electoral methods scrutinised by some independent body. This would confer tax advantages as formerly enjoyed under the Friendly Societies Act. The CIR, which has been neglected by the unions but which I believe still retains their respect, could be given a bigger rôle especially with issues concerning recognition and independence. Clearly the whole question of the closed shop would have to be re-opened. I consider that the post-entry shop should be made legal, with safeguards.

The Code of Practice has proved its value, especially in forcing companies to review their present practices. In the more co-operative atmosphere I am anticipating after the election I think that trade unions should take part in its amendment. It could be given much greater strength and a more important rôle in the whole industrial relations set-up.

Finally, the provisions against unfair dismissal, used and useful though they have been, could be improved. I am glad that the qualifying period has been reduced. It should be reduced again as soon as possible.

Finally, the working group should study to what extent the objectives of the Industrial Relations Act are being achieved. At the least, this would highlight what those objectives really are.

The net result of all our debates is that many people think that the Act was designed either to get at the unions or to solve industrial disputes or both. Indeed nearly all of the arguments from the Labour benches are on these two points. The primary object of the Act is to do something towards producing conditions under which those at work can themselves more easily settle and live with the day-to-day problems of their working lives.