§ Mr. TyrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many civil servants in his Department have been invited to waive the Working Time Directive requirement to work less than 48 hours a week on 17 consecutive weeks; how many civil servants in his Department have refused to waive the requirement; and what is the total cost of compliance with the Directive. [76799]
§ Mr. ByersThirty five staff in the Department have signed an agreement to disapply the 48-hour limit. The standard terms and conditions of service for staff employed by the Department are well within the limits set by the working time regulations. The regulations do not require employers to keep records of the number of workers who choose not to sign an opt-out agreement and no central records are kept by this Department. Compliance costs are not kept centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. This answer covers DTI headquarters and the Insolvency Service Agency, the Radiocommunications Agency, the National Weights and Measures Laboratory, Companies House Agency, Employment Tribunal Service and ACAS.
I have asked the Chief Executive of the Patent Office to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from J. C. Octon to Mr. Andrew Tyrie, dated 13 April 1999:
In the absence of the Chief Executive, I am replying on behalf of the Patent Office to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on the Working Time Regulations. Five Patent Office staff have volunteered to waive the regulations' requirement to work no more than 48 hours a week on average over 17 consecutive weeks. No staff have refused. There would be disproportionate cost in calculating the total cost to the Office of compliance with the Working Time Regulations, but we do not believe it to be significant.