§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out in the Official Report the basis of redundancy schemes operated by member States of the EEC, showing how the United Kingdom scheme compared.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 29 February 1980, c. 760]: Comparative information is not at present available 24W and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
There is no EEC directive covering redundancy payments. We understand that redundancy payments schemes of the member States have evolved according to the individual circumstances in each State and vary so widely as to rule out any useful comparison with the United Kingdom scheme.
There is an EEC directive on redundancy handling procedures—EEC Directive 75/129. The European Commission has recently written to member States asking for information to enable it to complete a report on the application of this directive. This report, when available, will be deposited in the House.