Clause 30 - Flexible working
Employment Relations Bill
10:15 am
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)
It may help the hon. Gentleman in the course of his argument if I say that the trade union side wanted to reduce the qualifying period from 12 months. Clearly, there was resistance to that from employers. There are issues surrounding other rights that individuals get, in relation to which the period of 52 weeks does not come into play.