HC Deb 20 April 2004 vol 420 cc466-7W
Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many residents of Birkenhead qualify for paid leave entitlement. [166503]

Mr. Sutcliffe

All workers resident in Birkenhead qualify for paid leave entitlements of at least 4 weeks as set out in the Working Time Regulations.

Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many residents of Birkenhead have benefited from a reduction of the working week to 48 hours. [166504]

Mr. Sutcliffe

The Working Time Regulations provide workers with the right not to work more than 48 hours if they want to. Numbers for Birkenhead are not available, but it has been estimated that around 50,000 workers resident in Merseyside stood to benefit from the introduction of the weekly working time limits in 1998.

Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many and what percentage of women in Birkenhead have taken 26 weeks' maternity leave since 1997. [166495]

Mr. Sutcliffe

Take-up of maternity leave is not recorded centrally. It is possible to make an estimate of the numbers of women taking maternity leave based on employer returns to Inland Revenue for payment of Statutory Maternity Pay (since 2003 this has covered the first 26 weeks of leave). However, figures for the take-up of SMP are not available on a regional basis.

In addition, there will be some women who will qualify for maternity leave but not SMP (because they do not meet the earnings criteria) and similarly some who qualify for SMP but not leave (because they are employed earners for the purposes of SMP but not employees in order to qualify for leave).

Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the benefits of the EU Social Chapter for the residents of Birkenhead. [1665011

Mr. Sutcliffe

The residents of Birkenhead have benefited from the EU Social Chapter by having their employment rights extended to include:

  • the right to parental leave which gives parents the right to 13 weeks unpaid leave at the birth or adoption of a child;
  • the entitlement of part-time workers to the same pro-rata terms and conditions of employment as full-time workers, thereby removing any discrimination and improving the quality of part-time jobs;
  • the provision that once a prima facie case has been made in an employment tribunal claim, the burden of proof is placed on the defendant (usually the employer), who will need to demonstrate that sex discrimination has not occurred;
  • rights under the Fixed Term Work Directive that provide equal treatment and prevent abuse of fixed term contracts;
  • rights under the European Works Council Directive which requires companies with at least 1,000 employees in total and at least 150 workers in each of the two Member States, to establish structures for consulting workers on issues that affect them; and
  • in addition, the Information and Consultation of Employees Directive, to be implemented in the UK by March 2005, establishes a right to new minimum standards for workforce communication and involvement in large firms.