Unfair Dismissal

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 July 1979.

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Photo of Sir Patrick Mayhew Sir Patrick Mayhew , Royal Tunbridge Wells 12:00, 24 July 1979

I shall not give way. I have given way two or three times.

The matter does not end there. There have been a number of surveys, on differing bases. I concede that they are something of a bran tub: there is something in them for everyone. Those that were undertaken by employers' organisations show convincingly the deterrent effect on employment that the present qualification period has had. I concede that those commissioned by the Department of Employment are not inconsistent with that but that they are less compelling.

Therefore, I shall cite one report that falls into neither category—Coopers and Lybrand's survey that was carried out for the Wilson committee in January 1978 into the investment attitudes and financing of medium companies. It is a report that is free from the taint of partisanship on one side or the other. I quote from the conclusion: We were frankly surprised at the strength of feeling that was held on this topic by many companies. The main point of concern was the increasing difficulty in recent years in being able to adjust readily the size of the work force to fluctuations in market conditions, or even seasonal changes in demand. … The Employment Protection Act 1975 was seen as a factor which strongly reinforced the trend towards inflexibility. The great majority of companies surveyed were therefore extremely cautious in taking on labour and were left in no doubt that this adversely affected investment decisions, including in some cases the choice between UK and some overseas countries".