Member News
By Baroness Gardner of Parkes - 26th January 2010
Baroness Gardner of Parkes writes for ePolitix.com ahead of her House of Lords question on the role of traffic director for London, and its position on the Redundancy Payments Order 1999.
Baroness Gardner is to ask- What is the cause of the delay in adding the traffic director for London, abolished by the Greater London authority Act 1999, to the list of bodies covered by the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc.)(Modification) Order 1999.
At the time of the Greater London Authority Act (GLA) in 1999, legislation provided employment continuity for most people who had been doing work that was taken over by the GLA.
The traffic director for London was an individual and also an organisation, technically a corporation sole. It was abolished by the Greater London Authority Act.
I am asking this question because for some unclear reason, the 26 employees of the traffic director for London were not included in the schedules made about that time, which would have ensured protection of their continuity of employment.
The issue is about the rights of those persons, and their not having been classified as having continuity of employment in local government. In the event of a redundancy situation arising, this could make a considerable difference to the rights that each of the 26 would have.
The matter was first raised with Keith Hill MP, then at ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) on 2 December 2003.
On 26 January 2005, a letter from Tony McNulty, then minister of state, Department of Transport, to Derek Conway MP, said: "I am sorry this matter is taking so long to resolve," and went on to say he was preparing to meet the DTI minister, Gerry Sutcliffe.
In December 2009, a letter from the Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP, minister for local government, stated: "I can confirm that responsibility for the Redundancy Payments Order has now been formally transferred from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to CLG (Communities and local government), and officials are considering the content of an amending order with the aim of a draft order being issued for consultation in the spring." She apologises for the "length of time this issue has taken".
Why has it taken so long? Why has it been passed from department to department? When will the amending order be laid?
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd