§ Mr. TouhigTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how long it has been the policy to offer staff recruited to work at the Patent Office in Newport two-year contracts; what benefits the Patent Office has derived from this policy; and if people employed on two-year contracts are afforded the same rights as Patent Office staff not on fixed-term contracts. [17414]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe Patent Office does not have a policy of recruiting staff on two-year contracts and currently has no such employees. However, the office does employ staff on renewable six-month contracts and has done so since March 1991 when it became clear that there has been a considerable reduction in demand for trade marks. A number of staff were therefore recruited on short-term contracts in order to retain the flexibility to reduce staff numbers quickly if market pressures so required. Although those pressures remain significant, reductions required to reflect efficiency improvements and changes in demand have so far been accommodated by normal staff turnover.
Staff on fixed-term contracts do not have all the rights of established civil servants. As well as terms of employment, there are differences between conditions of service, including amounts of sick leave entitlement.