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THIRTY FIRST MEETING OF THE HIGHER AND FURTHER EDUCATION, TRAINING
AND EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE 1. Apologies Present: Dr E Birnie (Chairman) In attendance: Mrs E Sung Mr Byrne, Mr Hutchinson, Mrs McWilliams. 2. Draft Minutes of Meeting held on 26 October 2000 Agreed as amended. Student Finance – It was agreed that the session on Student Finance at the meeting of 16 November would be closed. The Equality Commission had confirmed that the Committee is not one of the designated bodies statutorily obliged to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity in carrying out its functions – official confirmation is awaited. Enquiry – Discussion of the enquiry has been deferred until 16 November. Committee members are asked to consider the Chairman’s Paper on priorities in advance of the meeting. 4. Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations (NI) 2000 Mr Percy Johnston, the Assembly Legal Adviser, provided a short briefing on the powers and duties of Statutory Committees. He also outlined the particular arrangements in relation to these Regulations (which, due to suspension of the Assembly, had not been fully considered by Committee prior to being made and laid). The following issues were covered: - The intention of the legislation was to implement certain provisions of the European Part-time Work Directive. - The Francovitch-type implications of refusal to confirm. The Committee deliberated, and agreed that scope of what the Committee should do was limited, but that any concerns should be registered, immediately following the meeting, to the Minister. This should enable the Ministers to consider, take appropriate action, and proceed to confirmation of the regulations within the required statutory timescale. The Committee heard evidence from officials from the Northern Ireland Committee, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Peter Bunting, Assistant General Secretary, Anne Hope, Advisory Services Officer, and Avril Hall-Callaghan, Member, made a short presentation, and fielded questions on the following issues: - Discrepancy between the current Regulations and other statutory provisions, eg in the equality field. - Francovitch implications of non-confirmation. - Translation of the part-time work directive into domestic legislation – was the intent accurately transposed or not? - The legality of "forming" full time workers into part-time contracts. - Unfair dismissal and other issues. - Pensions (teachers now have pro-rata pension rights). - Initiatives on legitimate comparisons. - Lack of statutory Code of Practice. The Chairman thanked the delegation for their most interesting and useful presentation. Briefing on part-time workers legislation was then given to the Committee by Departmental Officials from Employment Rights Branch – Mrs Anne Williams and Mr William Caldwell. The following issues were covered in a briefing and question and answer session with the Committee: - The legislation provides for a Code of Practice, but a political decision was made by DTI that there would be no Code of Practice. - Compliance costs in Northern Ireland – (7,000 workers would be affected) £500,000. - Reducing the burden for employers. - Limits on comparisons, producing two categories of part-time workers – one protected, one not protected by the Regulations, and desirability of hypothetical comparator. - Part-time casual/agency workers – to what extent could they "compare" their terms with other part-time workers? - Measure to promote part-time working at senior levels within the Department. - Pension requirements/entitlements for part-time workers. - Training for part-time workers. - Litigation. - Whether or not the regulations fully comply with European Directives. - Reviewing and monitoring the impact of the regulations. The Chairman thanked the officials for their contribution, and decided they would proceed by way of a letter to the Minister highlighting areas of concern. Members noted that there would be an opportunity, during consideration of the Regulations in the Assembly, to debate any issues of concern. The concerns raised at this stage by Committee are annexed to these minutes. 5. Committee Response to Finance and Personnel Committee: Budget 2001/02 The Committee deliberated and agreed its draft response, as amended, to the Committee for Finance and Personnel, on the Executive’s Public Expenditure Plans, for the Budget 2001/02, as presented to the Assembly on Tuesday 17 October 2000. This response is also appended to these minutes. The Committee deliberated on whether they wish to be consulted, in advance, on all major Departmental consultation documents. They agreed to revert to this question at a future meeting. The next meeting on Thursday 16 November at 2.00 pm. Esmond Birnie 16/11/2000
ESMOND BIRNIE |