Oral Answers to Questions — Employment – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 July 1991.
Mr Jack Thompson
, Wansbeck
12:00,
9 July 1991
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will introduce legislation to ensure that all employees have a right to a written statement of terms and conditions within 13 weeks of commencement of employment.
Eric Forth
, Mid Worcestershire
Employees already have such a right under current employment protection legislation.
Mr Jack Thompson
, Wansbeck
Is the Minister aware that citizens advice bureaux throughout Britain have evidence that not only are employers ignoring the requirement to give a written statement of terms and conditions, but some are deliberately not meeting that requirement? Is it not time for those who are employed for 16 hours a week also to have such a written statement?
Eric Forth
, Mid Worcestershire
If, as the hon. Gentleman alleges, there is widespread breaching of the requirement, employees should go to industrial tribunals which are well equipped to deal with such problems. I hope that citizens advice bureaux are giving the correct advice in that regard. The hon. Gentleman may be aware that there is an EC directive covering that point which, regrettably, has not yet been passed because the European Parliament could not give an opinion. However, it is almost certain that that directive will become EC law in the foreseeable future. It will make certain changes, including the one that the hon. Gentleman suggested.
Mr Roger Knapman
, Stroud
Is my hon. Friend aware that 151 Members of the House are sponsored by trade unions? Does that make them delegates rather than representatives and are they entitled to a written contract of employment?
Eric Forth
, Mid Worcestershire
My hon. Friend makes an interesting point which I shall consider and take due account of.
Dennis Skinner
Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee
But what about the 250 Tory Members of Parliament who are lining their pockets with directorships, 62 of whom are Lloyd's names and wanted to be bailed out by the taxpayer? What about their terms and conditions? At the next General Election the Tories had better set up a training agency to search for jobs for all those Tory Members who will lose their seats, because they will need one.
Eric Forth
, Mid Worcestershire
I am impressed with the hon. Gentleman's care and concern for the categories of people whom he has just mentioned. Any people who find themselves in difficult circumstances should go to him because, obviously, he is anxious to help them.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
In a general election, each constituency chooses an MP to represent it by process of election. The party who wins the most seats in parliament is in power, with its leader becoming Prime Minister and its Ministers/Shadow Ministers making up the new Cabinet. If no party has a majority, this is known as a hung Parliament. The next general election will take place on or before 3rd June 2010.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
