§ 11. Mr. LeighTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost of the social chapter's (i) parental leave directive, (ii) works councils' directive and (iii) part time workers' directive to British business. [71607]
§ Mr. Ian McCartneyImpact assessments for all these measures have been presented to Parliament. European Works Councils were estimated to cost £18 million per year. Measures to implement the Parental Leave Directive are estimated to cost £36 million per year. The costs of the Part Time Work Directive are likely to be small. We expect the benefits of all these and other social partnership measures to far outweigh any costs by combating unregulated absenteeism. For example, survey evidence from the CBI suggests that the annual cost of sick absence in the UK could be as much as £25 billion.