§ Dr. Mawhinneyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the meeting held by the European Community Council of Ministers, Labour and Social Affairs, on 27 November at which Her Majesty's Government were represented.
§ Mr. PriorThe United Kingdom Government were represented by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security and myself.
The Council considered a proposal for an amendment to the social security regulations as regards the system for paying family benefits to workers in one Community country whose children live in another Community country. No agreement was reached but discussions are to continue until a satisfactory solution is found.
As my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security explained in greater detail in her reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdonshire (Mr. Major) on 4 December, the Council agreed to proposals extending the cover of the regulations on social security, including the provisions on medical care, to the self-employed. An important feature of this will be that self-employed persons who fall ill or have an accident while visiting another member State will be entitled to the medical treatment which is immediately necessary from the sickness insurance scheme of that State on the same terms as its own insured population.
The Council agreed to extend the anti-poverty programme for two years from November 1980 at a limited cost. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security, whilst supporting the limited proposals for research, expressed regret that the programme included no activities which would be of direct benefit to poor people.
There was a brief discussion on a proposal to allow export of payments under pre-retirement schemes. The Government do not however agree with the proposal to extend the scope of regulation (EEC) 1408/71 to allow this. In particular, regulation 1408/71 (which is mainly concerned with social security schemes) is inappropriate for payments under an employment measure such as the job release scheme. Discussion of the Commission's proposal will however be further considered in the Council.
Subject to a possible request for consultation from Greece, the Council agreed a decision extending for two years four previous decisions granting aid from the European social fund to workers in the textiles and clothing industries, migrant workers, young people under 25 and women, which were due to expire at the end of this year.
There was an exchange of views on a Commission proposal for a regulation to provide assistance from the European social fund for income support schemes for redundant shipbuilding workers, but no decision was reached. The matter is to be further considered by officials in the light of the Council discussion and any amendments the Commission may decide to make to its original proposal.
361WThe Council also took note of the Commission's report on the activities of the European social fund 1979.