§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will estimate the number of employees in London who were not entitled to paid holidays as a result of the coming into force of the Working Time Regulations. [152206]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonThe available information relates to the number of employees in London who, before the introduction of the Working Time Regulations were receiving less than the minimum stated in the Regulations. When the Regulations came into force it is estimated that 270,000 employees in the London area were receiving less than three weeks' paid leave per year. A further 70,000 are estimated to have been receiving more than three weeks but less than four weeks paid leave, and would therefore benefit when the amount of paid leave was increased from three to four weeks it November 1999.