The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee has heard a two hour evidence session from Blacklist Support Group secretary Dave Smith as part of its ongoing investigation into blacklisting in employment.
As part of his 12 June evidence, Mr Smith revealed a number of elected politicians and at least one MSP had files kept of them by the notorious Consulting Association. Mr Smith was able to make the claim after having been granted a Court Order to view the entire unredacted blacklist as part of his Employment Tribunal this year against the construction giant Carillion.
Mr Smith also for the first time “named and shamed” senior managers and directors of construction firms who had personally taken part in the illegal blacklisting conspiracy. He told MPs:
- Gerry Harvey, director of human resources at Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES, formerly Balfour Kilpatrick), attended The Consulting Association meetings on behalf of both companies.
- Elaine Gallagher, a human resources manager at BBES, was the “main contact” when contacting The Consulting Association.
- Liz Keates, head of human resources at Carillion Health, was a key Carillion contact person with The Consulting Association.
- John Edwards, invoiced at Carillion after attending a meeting of The Consulting Association in May 2008.
- John Bull, head of human resources at Carillion, was the company’s “Main Contact” with The Consulting Association.
- Alf Lucas, industrial relations manager with John Mowlem Construction PLC (now Carillion (JM) Ltd), was a contact for The Consulting Association.
- David Cochrane, head of human resources with Sir Robert MacAlpine, was a contact person for The Consulting Association.
Dave Smith told the select committee all of these names were backed up with documentary evidence including Employment Tribunal judgments, witness statements and invoices from The Consulting Association.
He told MPs the Blacklist Support Group will ask the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate allegations that the police supplied information about them to an industry blacklist.