There were no particular surprises in the Governments draft legislation programme for 2008 -2009 announced last week but still plenty for employers to ponder.
The main areas of action are:
1. Training
The Government is planning to:
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Provide a statutory basis for the apprenticeship programme, creating a new National Apprenticeships Service, establishing the first statutory entitlement to Apprenticeships for all suitably qualified young people, and ensuring that careers teachers and advisors provide comprehensive information about Apprenticeships.
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Secure a demand-led adult skills system, driven by learners and employers; a new adult advancement and careers service will be housed within a new post-19 Skills Funding Agency.
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Strengthen workplace skills training by creating a right for employees to request from their employer time to undertake relevant training;
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Secure contributions from employers towards English language provision for employees who are speakers of other languages.
2. Equality and Flexibility
The Government is planning to:
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Create a single equality duty, which will require public bodies to consider the diverse needs and requirements of their workforce, and the communities they serve, when developing employment policies and when planning services (Note: this will alos impacr employers who supply services to public sector bodies);
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Bring together Equality legislation into one Act (i.e. around 9 major pieces of legislation and 100 other laws). Hooray!
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Enable employment tribunals to do more to tackle unlawful discrimination by making recommendations to employers on their working practices which will benefit their wider workforce;
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Give more rights to agency workers, subject to agreement in
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Extend existing positive action measures to allow employers to make their organisation or business more representative and reflective of the people they serve;
For more information about current or planned legislation please contact your HR Advantage consultant or e-mail Lynne Taylor at
lynne@hradvantage.co.uk
New Services from HR Advantage
Checking out your potential new member of staff
We have enhanced our ability to provide pre-employment checks on new starters. We can undertake:
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CRB checks
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Proof of academic and professional qualification checks
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Personal and professional reference checks
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Media and internet searches
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Pre-employment medical checks
For more information please contact
On-line Training
To add to our powerful face to face training and coaching capabilities we now have the ability to offer all our clients SkillSoft's market leading range of on-line training and knowledge programmes.
We will expand on this news and also add some other exciting training news next month. Watch this space!
