§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the meetings(a) he and (b) officials of his Department have held with recruitment agencies during the last two years. [144480]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonSince my appointment I have had meetings with Manpower, Adecco, Blue Arrow, Brook Street, NES International and Hewett Recruitment. I have also met the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, the Agents' Association and the Local Employment Agencies Forum. Officials in the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate have regular meetings with agencies and their associations. It is estimated that over 1,400 meetings and visits have taken place in the last two years.
§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effect which the new Employment Agency regulations will have on recruitment agencies which arrange work experience for people of school age. [144482]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonI propose to revoke certain requirements agencies must fulfil before introducing workers under 18 to employers, but propose to strengthen protections for all workers to ensure they are not required to do work they are unsuited for or which would pose a hazard to them. The new regulations will apply to agencies arranging work placements for people of school age as before. Services provided by local authorities and356W certain colleges will continue to fall outside the legislation and particular regulations will continue not to apply to persons covered by section 25 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 or section 42 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963.