|
Speaking at a REC Small Business Forum, the company's Director of Public Affairs said, "There is no evidence that the names in the hat to take over at the DTI are going to be any better than the people currently running the department. There are names that are being mooted that actually think the industry has already been given too much by the current administration."
Parliamentary sources and the national press have speculated upon the prospect of a DTI re- shuffle over the past week. Agencies are hoping that under a second Labour term DTI head Stephen Byers, who has personally pushed forward the Act, will be transferred to a different department, leading to a relaxing of the Act's current proposals. Most favoured to replace Byers in such an event are: E- commerce Minister Patricia Hewitt, Department of the Environment, Transport & Regions Minister Lord Macdonald and Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling.
Patricia Hewitt, who insiders say is most likely to be given the position, is an advocate of the much debated 'quarantine period.' The quarantine period is an attempt to curb the practice of agencies holding on to their staff's right to work without them permanently in a job the agency had first placed them in. However, it remains a potentially damaging scheme to the profitability of agencies' business practice.
Clarifying her position on the matter last June, Hewitt told the House: "My Department has reason to believe that a substantial number of hirers, who have not negotiated satisfactory terms with [agencies], are deterred from offering permanent work to temporary workers because of the inclusion of transfer fee clauses in [agencies'] terms of business.
"[Agencies] will be able to protect their interests by a variety of means, such as by settling satisfactory transfer terms with hirers or by offering attractive employment terms to workers," she said.
Recruitment agencies are worried that the 'quarantine period' will disadvantage them financially to the extent that they cannot remain competitive within the market- this was highlighted in Shout99's previous report on the Act after a letter appeared in the Daily Mail claiming that '80,000 agencies would close as a consequence of the new regulations.' Contractors have also expressed concern as the proposals threaten to create further uncertainty for them within the market.
Mr Faulkner told the Forum, "Whoever the new Minister is, the recruitment industry should be in there lobbying as hard as ever."
Related stories:
The Employment Agencies Act is looming. What will the impact be?
--
Richard Powell, Shout99
|
