§ Mr. Ovendenasked the Secretary of State for Employment which sections of the Employment Protection Act are currently in operation; and when he intends to bring into force the remaining sections of the Act.
§ Mr. BoothThe provisions currently in operation are set out in detail in the Employment Protection Act 1975 (Commencement No. 1) Order 1975 (S.I. 1975 No. 1938 (C. 55)). They are those relating to the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service; those relating to wages councils and agricultural wages boards; and those amending the Employment Agencies Act 1973, the Employment and Training Act 1973 and certain of those amending the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. These were brought into force on 1st January.
The same order brings into operation on 1st February the provisions relating to the Certification Officer, the Central Arbitration Committee and trade union recognition, and on 1st March the remaining health and safety amendments.
In April we intend to implement the provisions on the handling of redundancies and insolvency. These will be followed, probably in June, by the main group of individual rights set out in Part II of the Act, including trade union membership and activities, the new maternity rights other than pay, and most of the amendments to the unfair dismissal legislation and the Redundancy Payments and Contracts of Employment Acts but not the removal of the small firms' exclusion from the unfair dismissal provisions or the part-time workers' extension.
The timing of the introduction of the disclosure provisions, and those on time off for trade union duties and activities, will depend on the speed with which ACAS can prepare the necessary codes of practice.
We are aiming to introduce most of the remaining provisions during the second half of 1976, apart from those on guarantee payments and itemised pay statements, which we hope to implement early in 1977, and those relating to maternity 137W pay, which will come into force in April 1977.