§ Mr. SummersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the outcome of the meeting of the Labour and Social Affairs Council held in Brussels on 6 November; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardThe Council addressed only one item—the proposed directive on pregnant workers. Agreement was reached on the two most important remaining provisions of the proposal, concerned with dismissal and in particular with the level of maternity pay and benefits.
On maternity benefits, the Council rejected the approach proposed by the European Commission of a quantified link with previous earnings. Instead, the Council agreed the principle that member states must at a minimum set the level of maternity benefit at the level of benefits that are paid when people have to be absent from work for reasons of health.
The Council also agreed a number of important protections for the health and safety at work of women who are pregnant or who have recently given birth.
The United Kingdom and all but one of the other member states supported this agreement.
The United Kingdom in addition recorded its concern at the proposed legal basis for this directive under the Treaty of Rome. The United Kingdom does not agree that such matters as leave, pay and other employment rights fall under article 118A of the Treaty, which is explicitly concerned with health and safety at work. The United Kingdom therefore registered its abstention in the voting on this directive. The Social Affairs Council is likely to adopt its formal common position at its next meeting.
457WThe United Kingdom was represented by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Forth).