§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will place in the Library a copy of the EC legal appraisal of the competence of the proposed agency workers draft directive to cover pay; and if she will make a statement. [76662]
§ Alan JohnsonI am not able to put the requested information in the House of Commons library. As we said in the Explanatory Memorandum which we laid before this house in May 2002, "there is an issue as to whether the directive can cover pay. The proposal applies an equal treatment principle to certain 'basic working and employment conditions' listed at article 3.1(d), including 'pay'. However, Article 137(6) provides that, 'the provisions of this article shall not apply to pay'. In the light of this, the Government took the view when agreeing to directives 97/81/EC and 99/70/EC on part-time work and fixed term work respectively, that these directives, which also have article 137 as a legal base, could not cover pay. On the face of it, it seems difficult to reconcile the specific inclusion of pay in the directive with the provision in Article 137(6)." The House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee has endorsed this approach, following a scrutiny debate on 10 July 2002.