§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on how the Working Time Directive is functioning; and how many prosecutions have been made against employees who are failing to implement it. [26789]
§ Alan JohnsonThe Working Time Directive was implemented in Great Britain through the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998 No. 1833) and the amending regulations of 1999 and 2001 (SI 1999 No. 3372 and SI 2001 No. 3256 respectively). These regulations are functioning effectively in providing workers with entitlements to rest, paid annual leave and working time and night work protections.
In referring to the number of prosecutions against employees, I take my hon. Friend to mean employers. There are no readily available figures in this respect. However, 1,369 claims received by the Employment Tribunal Service for 2000–01 and 469 investigations completed by the Health and Safety Executive's Working Time Officers since the Regulations came into force, indicates that workers have not been dissuaded from asserting their rights and entitlements.