16 Employment Guidelines
| (25535)
8076/04
COM(04) 239
| (a)
Commission Communication: Strengthening the implementation of the European Employment Strategy
(b)
Draft Council Decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States
(c)
Draft Council Recommendation on the implementation of Member States' employment policies
|
| Legal base | (b) Article 128(2) EC; consultation; QMV
(c) Article 128(4); — ; QMV
|
| Document originated | 7 April 2004
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 14 April 2004
|
| Department | Work and Pensions
|
| Basis of consideration | EM of 26 April 2004
|
| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (24445) 8459/03: HC 63-xxi (2002-03), para 3 (14 May 2003) and HC 63-xxii (2002-03), para 12 (21 May 2003)
|
| To be discussed in Council | 1/2 June 2004
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
16.1 Article 128(2) EC requires the Council each year to draw
up guidelines which Member States must take into account in their
employment policies. The Employment Guidelines are fully reviewed
every three years; in the intermediate years, they should be updated
only to a limited extent. The last full review was in 2003 and
the Thessaloniki European Council endorsed the current Guidelines
in June 2003.[31]
16.2 Article 128(4) EC empowers the Council, on a
recommendation from the Commission, to make recommendations to
Member States.
The document
16.3 The document comprises:
- a Communication from the Commission;
- a draft Decision on the Employment Guidelines;
and
- a draft Recommendation to Member States on the
implementation of their employment policies.
16.4 The Communication summarises the background
to and aims of the draft Decision and Recommendation.
16.5 The draft Decision proposes that the Employment
Guidelines for the coming year should be identical to the ten
Guidelines endorsed by the European Council last June.
16.6 The draft Recommendation includes four recommendations
to all Member States ("the Common Recommendations")
and a set of country-specific recommendations. The four recommendations
to all Member States propose that they should give immediate priority
to:
- increasing the adaptability
of workers and enterprises;
- attracting more people to join and remain in
the labour market;
- investing more and more effectively in human
capital and lifelong learning; and
- ensuring effective implementation of reforms
through better governance (through, for example, partnerships
with trades unions and employers' organisations; defining national
policies and targets; and promoting the effectiveness of National
Action Plans).
These four proposals were included in the Joint Employment
Report from the Council and the Commission to the European Council
meeting in Brussels on 25/26 March 2004.[32]
16.7 The draft recommendation addressed specifically
to the UK proposes that the Government should:
- " ensure that wage
developments do not exceed productivity developments;
- ensure that active labour market policies and
benefit systems prevent de-skilling and promote quality in work,
by improving incentives to work and supporting the sustainable
integration and progress in the labour market of inactive and
unemployed people; address the rising number of people claiming
sickness or disability benefits and give particular attention
to lone parents and people living in deprived areas;
- improve the access to and affordability of childcare
and care for other dependants, increase access to training for
low paid women in part-time work, and take urgent action to tackle
the causes of the gender pay gap; and
- implement national and regional skills strategies
to provide better incentives for lifelong learning and thereby
increase productivity and quality in work; place particular emphasis
on improving literacy and numeracy in the workforce, the participation
and achievement of 16-19 year-olds, and low-skilled adults working
in poorly paid jobs."
The Government's view
16.8 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at
the Department of Work and Pensions (Mr Chris Pond) tells us that
the Government broadly supports the Communication. It welcomes
the re-adoption, unchanged, of last year's Employment Guidelines;
and it is happy with the specific recommendation addressed to
the UK.
16.9 The Minister says that the four Common Recommendations
are almost identical to the "key messages" which were
endorsed by the Spring European Council. While the Government
agrees with those priorities:
"it is not clear how repetition of these already
agreed principles adds value to the employment package. Other
delegations share the view that the Common Recommendations are
redundant. The UK would be content to see them dropped from the
package."
Conclusion
16.10 The proposed Employment Guidelines are important,
as is the recommendation addressed specifically to the UK. They
do not raise issues about which we need put questions to the Minister.
They appear to us to be both proportionate and consistent with
the principle of subsidiarity; indeed, the draft Employment Guidelines
themselves are identical to those endorsed last year. We can understand
why the Government considers the draft Common Recommendations
to be redundant, but we note that it does not disagree with the
substance of them. We have decided, therefore, to clear the document
from scrutiny.
31 Conclusion 46, Conclusions of the Thessaloniki European
Council, 19 and 20 June 2003. Back
32
See (25291) 5620/1/04; HC 42-x (2003-04), para 6 (11 February
2004). Back
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