§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of the article in the amended treaty of Rome relating to his announcement concerning part-time employment of 20 December 1994, together with the dates at which Her Majesty's Government assented to the article, and those on which the House gave a Second and Third Reading to the relevant ratifying Act.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe judicial review case R. v Secretary of State for Employment ex parte Equal Opportunities Commission and another was brought under article 119 of the treaty of Rome, which has been in the treaty since it was adopted in 1957; under the equal pay directive, which was adopted in 1975 and came into force in 1976; and under the equal treatment directive, which was adopted in 1976 and came into force in 1978. The application of article 119 is a consequence of the United Kingdom's accession to the European Community, which was approved by Parliament in the European Communities Act 1972. The directives' requirements are met in the UK by provisions of the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.