by Phil Chamberlain
Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights is to be asked to investigate the blacklisting scandal. John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes & Harlington, told a meeting of the Blacklist Support Group that he wanted to see a public inquiry into what he described as “one of the worst ever cases of organised abuses of human rights in the UK”.
One way to get that would be through a select committee investigation. Mr McDonnell will ask Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon who chairs the committee, if he will look into the issue. The committee, made up of a dozen members from both Houses of Parliament, undertakes inquiries on human rights issues and reports its findings and recommendations to the House.
The initiative comes as the government prepares to publish new rules outlawing blacklisting. The draft text has already been criticised for its loose wording.
Meanwhile, construction union UCATT has distributed 100,000 posters to its members to put up on construction sites across the country urging them to request their blacklist files from the Information Commissioner’s Office.
So far, only around 250 files have been sent out of 1,800 requests. The blacklist database maintained by the Consulting Association contains more than 3,200 names.
To see if the Consulting Association held a file on you, ring the ICO’s helpline on 08456 306060 or 01625 545745 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, and choose option 1.
