§ Lord Harmsworthasked Her Majesty's Government:
Following the European Court of Justice's decision in the Suzen case, what steps they intend to take to clarify the application of the TUPE Regulations on outsourcing contracts; and [HL2619]
How they will ensure that the new TUPE Regulations applying the Acquired Rights Directive will achieve clarity and certainty on the subject of transfers of outsourced contracts. [HL2620]
§ Lord Clinton-DavisThe UK Presidency achieved a notable success in securing the adoption on 29 June of a revised Acquired Rights Directive. Amongst other improvements, the revised directive includes a new broad definition of a transfer of an undertaking. This draws on the European Court's judgments inSuzen and other leading cases, without relying on any of them exclusively, in order to clarify the directive's scope without in any way diminishing employees' existing rights. As we indicated in our Fairness at Work White Paper, the Government intend to amend the UK's implementing legislation, commonly known as the TUPE Regulations, in order to improve its operation. The revision of the directive gives us a much sounder basis for doing so than would otherwise have been the case.