In his draft Queen’s Speech yesterday in Parliament, Gordon Brown announced the “major new change in workplace rights”, where every worker will have the right to request training, and every adult will be given a personal skills account with resources tailored to the individual.
He also laid down plans to increase agency worker’s rights, saying: “Most people agree that it is not fair that, even after months in the job, agency workers can currently be paid less than the staff they work alongside. So the secretary for business, John Hutton, plans to bring forward legislation – subject to an agreement between employers and employees – that will for the first time ensure new rules for fair treatment of agency workers here in Britain.”
The unemployed will have their skills needs assessed in order to train them appropriately, while current incapacity claimants will be medically assessed and put on a personalised programme to help them back into work, under Government plans.
Brown also commented upon the forthcoming Single Equality Bill that will streamline different areas of existing discrimination law.
“We welcome the Government’s commitment to moving the vital debate on equality and fair treatment into the 21st century,” says Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. “The current legislation, built up in a piecemeal fashion over 40 years, is now frankly unworkable and should be quietly laid to rest.”
