HC Deb 03 December 1974 vol 882 cc1337-9
10. Mr. Terry Walker

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is proposing to take to prevent employees being made redundant at very short notice.

Mr. Booth

The Government intend to introduce the Employment Protection Bill early in the new year, if not earlier. This will require employers to consult the trade unions concerned before redundancies are announced and to notify my Department well before they take effect.

Mr. Walker

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Employers need to be made aware of the Bill, because in my constituency we have had one or two cases of instant redundancy, which are most worrying to the trade unions and many others of us.

Mr. Booth

We cannot make employers aware of the contents of the Bill before we make the information known to the House, but it may help my hon. Friend if I tell him that we envisage that any employer who lays off 10 or more workers in any one establishment, to be dismissed within a period of 30 days, will be required to give 60 days' notice, and any employer proposing to lay off 100 or more workers in any one establishment to be dismissed within a period of 90 days, will be required to give 90 days' notice. Whether or not that is enacted will be a matter for the House. We seek to impress on employers the importance of giving good advance notice and entering into negotiations with trade unions on the matter of redundancies.

Mr. Cormack

Is it true that the Bill is in draft form? If so, how much discussion has there been so far with employers' organisations?

Mr. Booth

Some parts of the Bill are in draft form, but there are other parts on which the discussion of the consultative document is not completed. We have asked employers and others interested in the Bill to make their submissions. Most of this has been done, and discussions continue on certain parts which are controversial.

Mr. Sedgemore

Is the current level of unemployment in the United Kingdom—28 per cent., or 653,000—acceptable or unacceptable? If it is unacceptable, does my hon. Friend think that the trade union movement would be justified in advising its members to adopt a no-redundancy policy?

Mr. Booth

The present level of unemployment is not acceptable. I hope that the employment situation will never be acceptable to a Labour Government until all those who are genuinely seeking work can obtain proper and appropriate employment. What we are seeking to do in the Bill is to enable trade unions, in protecting the interests of their members, to have a right to the information and to receive notification which will enable them to decide whether they should adopt a no-redundancy policy or negotiate for other terms in the event of some of their members being laid off.

Mr. Hayhoe

Has the Minister any evidence that some employers are holding back on making people redundant because of the cash shortage and their failure to have the resources to make redundancy payments? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that if the Government have no plans for dealing with continued major breaches of the social contract on the wages front the redundancies we see now will be minimal compared with the massive redundancies that may follow runaway wage inflation?

Mr. Booth

We have no evidence in the Department that employers are deferring decisions to make people redundant on the grounds which the hon. Gentleman has stated. We agree that if there were to be a failure of the social contract it would have implications of massive redundancy as well as many other great disadvantages for the country.