HL Deb 29 January 1975 vol 356 cc558-9WA
Lord O'HAGAN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What they agreed to at the Council of Ministers on 17th December 1974; and why no statement was made to Parliament.

Lord HUGHES

As foreshadowed in the estimate of likely Council business which the Government placed in theOfficial Report on 27th November 1974, the main items on the agenda of this Social Affairs Council were the draft directives on equal pay and mass dismissals, and draft regulations concerned with the establishment of a European Vocational Training Centre and a European Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions. These were all agreed in principle in terms broadly consistent with the information contained in the explanatory memoranda presented to Parliament. The detailed texts have yet to be formally approved and will then be available in the Official Journal.

In addition, the Council took note of the Commission's second report on the activities of the new European Social Fund, and agreed arrangements for convening the Standing Employment Committee in 1975.

In the circumstances it was not considered that a statement was necessary, although my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment has answered questions in another place dealing with the implications of the decisions reached concerning equal pay and mass dismssals.