§ Mr. TredinnickTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether the Government has reached any decision with regard to the current opportunity to denounce International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention 45 as mentioned in his Department's recent consultative document.
§ Mr. NichollsThe Government are considering carefully the many responses to the consultative document on restrictions on employment of young people and the removal of sex discrimination in legislation, including these of the CBI and TUC.
A clear majority of the responses favoured changes to many aspects of the legislation. In order to clear the way for possible changes to the statutory restrictions on women in mining which could not take place within the constraints of the convention, the Government propose to denounce ILO convention 45. Denunciation will take effect 12 months after the date on which it is registered with the ILO.