§ Miss Joan Lestorasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will estimate the numbers of part-time workers excluded from employment protection legislation following the implementation of the Employment Act 1980.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe implementation of the Employment Act 1980 did not directly affect the numbers of part-time employees excluded from the individual rights provisions of the employment protection legislation—contained in the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978. In order to qualify for the great majority of rights contained in this Act employees have to work for 16 hours or more per week for their employer or eight hours or more per week if they have been continuously employed by their employer for five years or more. It is estimated that in 1981 there were about 1.8 million persons in Great Britain who worked for less than 16 hours per week. Of these about 1.2 million worked eight hours or more but information on how long they had been with their then employer is not available.