Nia Griffith
Main Page: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Mr Davey
I assure my hon. Friend that all Departments with responsibility for employment-related legislation are contributing to the review; it is important that they should, if the review is to have a real impact on burdens on business. I will talk to colleagues in other Departments to ensure that they are taking a clear role in it, as I am sure that they will.
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)
Given that the well respected Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development considers that the Government are
“justified in seeking to reform procedures to resolve workplace disputes”,
but suggests that
“the decision to increase the qualifying period for rights against unfair dismissal is questionable”
and could be
“potentially harmful to the long-term performance of the UK economy”,
will the Government stop using a tax on employment rights as a pathetic and unproven substitute for any real growth strategy and drop plans to increase from one to two years the qualifying time for unfair dismissal?
Mr Davey
The hon. Lady is right to quote the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development on this issue, because it supports much of the coalition Government’s better regulation agenda in this area. She will know that the unfair dismissal period is out to consultation. A number of responses are very much in favour of the proposal, but she would not expect me to prejudge the consultation today.