CONFIDENTIAL
29.
(a)
GCHQ
Judicial Review
On 6 August the Court of Appeal found in the Government's favour and set aside the judgement of Mr Justice Glidewell. The unions' appeal to the House of Lords will be held on 8 October. Treasury Solicitors have exchanged letters with Lawfords, the unions' solicitors, setting out terms for the maintenance of the status quo pending the exhaustion of the domestic legal process. In essence, GCHQ will not, for the time being, transfer anyone against their will or dismiss anyone for failing to accept the new conditions of service.
(b) Staff Matters
On 23 August reports appeared in the press of industrial action at GCHQ. These appear to have been based on union briefing and were a distortion of the facts about a meeting held on Monday, 20 August and attended by craftsmen at a number of GCHQ workshops. The meeting lasted half an hour and discussed the introduction of a training scheme to enable electrical and mechanical technicians to qualify as electronic technicians. There was some misunderstanding about the operation of the scheme. A representative subsequently met management and the matter was resolved. We have checked with GCHQ and there have been no further repercussions.
30. Mr Oleg Bitov
There is some concern about the whereabouts of Mr Bitov who defected to the UK last September. This is the subject of a separate submission.
CONFIDENTIAL