§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will have discussions with the trade unions and employers' organisations aimed at reducing the level of overtime working in manufacturing industry;
(2) what is his policy on the current level of overtime working, in view of 342W current and predicted unemployment levels.
§ Mr. John FraserThe need for overtime working varies so greatly from one establishment to another that consideration of ways to reduce it against the background of high unemployment is best left to employers and workers or the organisations which represent them.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment why his Department confines the collection and publication of overtime statistics to manufacturing industry.
§ Mr. John FraserComprehensive statistics on overtime for both manual and non-manual occupations in all industries and services are collected annually from the New Earnings Survey: the first results of the 1975 survey were published in the November 1975 issue of my Department'sGazette.
Information about the overtime hours of manual workers is also obtained from a question on the monthly employment returns sent to a sample of firms in manufacturing industries. It is not my Department's present intention to extend this monthly question to other sectors—in many of which overtime is a less significant factor—in view of the expense involved both to Government and employers.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will bring forward legislation to amend the Contracts of Employment Act 1972 with the effect of making clauses in individual employment contracts calling for compulsory overtime void.
§ Mr. John FraserNo.