§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for Employment what discussions on employment and related matters his Department is having with the EEC Commission; and if he will give a breakdown of each topic under discussion with particular reference to EEC proposals and their status within the Community's legislative machinery.
§ Mr. John Grant,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 23rd November 1978; Vol. 958, c. 726], gave the following information:
My Department is in touch with the European Commission on a number of subjects in the employment field.
Officials of the departmental group represent the Government on four committees chaired by the Commission and set up to advise the Commission on a range of employment-related topics. These advisory committees are:
Freedom of Movement for Workers and their Employment in the Community.
The Euopean Social Fund.
Vocational Training.
Safety Hygiene and Health Protection at Work.
Representatives of unions and managements are also members of these committees.
The Commission also calls informal and ad hoc meetings to consult Government representatives on specific issues and policies under examination. Such meetings attended by officials have recently enabled us to discuss informally with the Commission and with our partners a number of employment-related subjects, including work-sharing, youth unemployment and vocational training.
799WOther contacts take place in connection with United Kingdom applications under the European social fund. We also maintain periodic contact with the aim of looking at policy options under consideration in this country against the background of our Community obligations. As the House has already been informed, Her Majesty's Government's proposals to extend the scope of the small firms employment subsidy from 1st January 1979 have been notified to the Commission.
Apart from ad hoc contacts, discussion between Ministers and the Commission usually takes place at the Council of Ministers (Labour and Social Affairs), from time to time at informal meetings of Employment Ministers, at meetings of the Standing Committee on Employment and at the periodic meetings of the tripartite conference. The main theme of such recent discussions has been the strategy and actions which the Commission considers necessary to bring about a recovery in the economy and the employment situation. Such meetings have also enabled us to urge that full regard be paid to the employment factor when other Community policies such as industrial and competition policies are under consideration, and to advance the case for continued use in the context of a medium-term employment strategy of national employment measures.
As regards specific proposals for legislation, the Commission's proposal to extend the use of the European social fund to promote employment of young people with employment difficulties was agreed in principle at the Council of Labour and Social Affairs Ministers on 27th November and will be adopted shortly.
A Commission proposal for a Council directive concerning the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer is awaiting discussion by officials. Discussions on a draft regulation dealing with provisions on conflict of laws in employment relationships within the Community were suspended in 1977 to allow time for the Commission to review the proposal.
Officials are currently engaged in discussions in Council working groups on a number of Commission proposals concerning the removal of technical barriers to trade in industrial products which raise 800W health and safety considerations. Discussions are taking place in Commission technical progress committees on two adopted Council directives relating to the provision of safety signs at places of work and the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances.
A draft regulation on the organisation of a labour force sample survey, in the spring of 1979, was recently submitted by the Commission to the Council of Ministers.
Preliminary discussions at official level have taken place on a possible Community instrument for regulating night work but no legislative proposal has been submitted to the Council.