§ Mr. Murphyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement of Government policy on encouraging employee participation in companies.
§ Mr. GummerThe Government are firmly committed to the principle of managements informing and consulting employees about matters which affect them. They believe, however, that successful employee involvement is best introduced voluntarily and we have consistently urged employers to develop procedures which suit their particular circumstances.
Section 1 of the Employment Act 1982, which provides that companies with more than 250 employees should report annually on their employee involvement activities, will help to encourage the spread of good practice. I hope that companies will take full advantage of the opportunity to review and publicise their policies in this area. I will be looking in detail at the way in which companies comply with this new legislative requirement.