§ Mr. NewtonI beg to move amendment No. 5, in page 3, line 19 leave out
'Regulations may make provision for continuing'and insert'Regulations shall make provision as to'.This amendment fulfils an undertaking given in Committee. It has a two-fold effect. First, it obliges, rather than allows, the Secretary of State to make regulations under clause 3(7). In Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey (Mr. Rossi) indicated that, had a then Opposition amendment to this effect been selected, the Government would have accepted it. The amendment now before the House gives effect to that implicit acceptance in Committee.
The second effect of the amendment is to ensure that the regulation-making power is wide enough to cover cases where an employee is dismissed by his employer in order to prevent a period of entitlement to statutory sick pay which is known about in advance, for example, a hospital stay, from beginning. This kind of case was raised in Committee by the hon. Member for Stoockport, North (Mr. Bennett) and it is our intention, should it be necessary, to introduce regulations under clause 3(7) to cover it. The amendment makes sure that it would be possible for us to do that. We are grateful to the hon. Member for Stockport, North for bringing the point to our attention.
I should be happy to say more if pressed, but I hope that I have said enough to make clear that the amendment meets the point raised by the Opposition. It shows to Opposition Members below the Gangway that the Government are not exclusively interested in the rights of employers.
§ Amendment agreed to.