European Standing Committee C
Monday 19 July 1999
[Mr. Edward O'Hara in the Chair]
Extension of the Working Time Directive to Excluded Sectors
[Relevant Documents: European Union Document No. 13526/98. Unnumbered explanatory memoranda submitted by the Department of Trade and Industry on 18 May 1999 and 21 June 1999 relating to sectors and activities excluded from the working time directive.]
4.30 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Dr. Kim Howells): Good afternoon to you, Mr. O'Hara, and to members of the Committee. I apologise for the absence of my right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe, who was due to speak for the Government. I am standing in for him at somewhat short notice, and I hope to be able to answer the Committee's questions. Equally, I hope that hon. Members will understand if I do not know the answers--this is not my subject, but I shall try.
I shall deal first with the scrutiny points that the Scrutiny
Committee raised. My right hon. Friend wrote to the Chairman of that Committee following his appearance before it on 7 July. In his letter, he made clear his commitment to maintain an active and constructive dialogue with the Committee, and to provide it with the information that it needed to carry out its functions in a timely manner. He accepted that that should involve not only the submission of explanatory memoranda on documents deposited in Parliament, but regular updates on substantive developments.
At the Council on 25 May, the United Kingdom agreed a deal that ensures that workers who are excluded from the protection that the working time directive affords will benefit from the rights granted under it. At the same time, the deal ensures that the proposals reflect the needs of specific sectors. Agreement was reached on a proposed directive that would amend directive 93/104 to cover sectors and activities that are excluded from the original directive. It is referred to as the horizontal directive and is the subject of our debate. To complete the picture, I should say that agreement was also reached on proposals to extend to seafarers similar protection to that in the working time directive. That is a done deal.
The original working time directive was adopted in November 1993. Its purpose was to protect workers against adverse effects on their health and safety that resulted from excessively long hours, inadequate rest or disruptive working patterns. In a direct way, it was also intended to protect public safety. The Government laid regulations before Parliament on 30 July 1998 to implement the directive, and they came into force on 1 October 1998. Hon. Members might be aware that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced on 7 July that he intended to make two amendments to them.
When the original working time directive was negotiated, several sectors, which member states believed required special treatment, were excluded from its scope. They are: road, rail, sea, air, inland waterway and lake transport; sea fishing; other work at sea--essentially, offshore oil and gas extraction--and doctors in training. The Commission published proposals to extend working time protection to all those sectors--with the exception of seafarers--in the draft horizontal directive on 18 November 1998. The Commission's stated approach was to apply basic rules on working time to the excluded sectors by using the horizontal directive, and to introduce sector-specific proposals to set out the detailed application of the rules to individual sectors. Following negotiations during the first half of this year, political agreement was reached on the horizontal directive at the Council in May.
The Government conducted wide-ranging consultations with the sectors affected by the new rules, and I believe that the United Kingdom has secured the proper degree of protection for workers while ensuring that the needs of business have not been overlooked.
The Council agreement ensures for junior doctors a realistic transition to a 48-hour week, which is vital to the modernisation of the national health service and to high-quality patient care. The Government have worked hard to reduce doctors' hours, and some 80 per cent. of doctors currently work within a 56-hour week. The agreement reached by member states ensures that all junior doctors will, in time, work less than the working time directive limit of an average of 48 hours per week.
I assure hon. Members that there are no plans to increase junior doctors' hours or to alter the Government's commitment to the new deal target of a 56-hour limit for junior doctors. We are committed to reducing junior doctors' average working week to 48 hours, but it is necessary to put that in place over time to maintain patient care and to enable us to bring on line the extra doctors that will be needed. The agreement reached with our EC partners allows us to move towards the 48-hour weekly limit for doctors while protecting standards of health care in the NHS.
As my right hon. Friend the Minister of State made clear to the Scrutiny Committee last Wednesday and in his most recent letter, if the United Kingdom had not supported the package before the Council, there would have
been a real risk that the proposals would have been withdrawn to the United Kingdom's disadvantage. We were not prepared to take that risk, especially as other member states moved to support us once they understood the importance of the matter to us.
In respect of sea fishermen, we are concerned that fatigue has been a factor in a number of fishing vessel accidents. Employed fishermen should be entitled to the protection of working time regulations to the extent that practical circumstances in the industry allow.
Mr. Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby): Will my hon. Friend give way?
Dr. Howells: I must finish my statement, and then questions can be asked.
The Chairman: Order. It is the convention in European Standing Committees that interventions are not made during the Minister's opening statement, after which there will be ample opportunity for questions.
Dr. Howells: As ever, I applaud my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) for his enthusiasm and his intention to get to grips with the subject.
The Government appreciate the concerns that the United Kingdom fishing industry has with the proposals, and we will work with the industry to ensure that the directive's requirements are implemented as sensibly and with as light a touch as possible. That should ensure that working practices are not adversely affected. We look to the industry to play a positive role in discussions leading up to the implementation.
I shall cover the position on road transport in detail to avoid any confusion. Employed workers in the transport sector will be included in the horizontal directive, which applies to mobile workers the basic rules such as the average 48-hour week and the right to annual paid leave. The provisions of the working time directive will be extended to cover non-mobile workers in full, but as part of its approach to the excluded sectors, the Commission has introduced a separate road transport proposal. The proposal lays down detailed rules on how the average 48-hour week should be calculated, absolute limits on weekly working hours, breaks, daily and weekly rest periods and more restrictions on night work.
Those proposals are still being discussed in the transport working group, and progress has been slow because they are proving contentious. In the Government's view, they are too restrictive, and, uniquely for working time legislation, they apply to self-employed workers as well as to employees. Consequently, the proposals were not discussed in the June Transport Council, and there was little chance of reaching an agreement. The presidency has not tabled discussion of the proposals in July, so further movement is not likely until the autumn. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State will of course inform the Scrutiny Committee of any substantive developments before political agreement is reached on those proposals.
The proposals agreed in Council for the rail sector were in accord with the sectoral agreement reached by the social partners. The working time directive will be extended to cover mobile and non-mobile rail workers. Derogations from some entitlements are permissible for railway workers whose activities are intermittent, whose hours of work are spent on trains and whose activities are linked to railway transport timetables and to ensuring continuity and regularity of railway traffic.
The working time provisions will be extended to cover in full non-mobile workers in the air transport sector. For mobile workers--those who spend their hours of work on planes--the basic working time provisions will apply. In addition, for those workers, member states will be able to provide for the limit on weekly working time to be averaged over a year. In place of the standard provisions on rest, those workers will have a right to adequate rest. The Commission intends to issue separate proposals on detailed working time provisions for the sector to cover detailed rules for rest entitlement.
For offshore workers--principally those involved in the extraction of oil and gas--the provisions of the working time directive will be extended in full. Member states will be able to provide for the 48-hour limit on weekly working time to be averaged over a year. The deal at Council regarding seafarers ensures that seafarers will enjoy the benefits and protection that the working time directive brings. It will also help to address the issue of crew fatigue while maintaining flexibility in the event of an emergency at sea.
The Government support the proposals to extend working time protection to the excluded sectors. We believe that all workers should have a right to minimum standards in the workplace. The extension of the working time directive to the excluded sectors is in support of the Government's aim of promoting family-friendly employment policy. We shall, of course, ensure that the Scrutiny Committee is kept fully informed of substantive developments on the working time dossier over the coming months and years as proposals develop. I am happy to hear the Committee's views, to respond to questions and, when appropriate, to put the motion.
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