§ Mr. Roweasked the Secretary of State for Employment which organisations and individuals have responded to the Government's consultative document on the draft Vredeling and Fifth Company Law European Communities Directives; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Tom KingBy 30 April 1984 my Department and the Department of Trade and Industry had received 127 responses. The great majority of respondents indicated that
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- (a)the number of new apprenticeship registrations made in England and wales by joint boards in the construction industry, and
- (b)the number of adults trained in Great Britain under the training opportunities scheme, in all construction craft trades.
they were opposed to both draft directives. I have today placed in the Libraries of both Houses copies of a rote prepared by my Department summarising some of the main points made about each draft directive together with a full list of respondents.
One feature of the responses has been the degree of criticism of the draft Directives from those most active in the field of employee involvement. They feel that the inflexible approach of these measures could pose a real threat to their own well-recognised methods of involvement. The Government are determined to encourage the voluntary approach and our concern that these draft directives could indeed be harmful to good industrial relations is strongly reflected in the responses we have received.