Consultation
6.In June 2008 the Department sought views on policy proposals to enhance its powers regarding employment agency enforcement and to extend legal representation in relation to Industrial Court jurisdictions. Consultation ran for 17 weeks and closed on 30 September 2008. Responses to the public consultation were presented to the Assembly Committee for Employment and Learning on 26 November 2008. The Committee responded on 11 December 2008 that it was content with the proposals as now contained in the Act.
7.The Department received 13 responses to the consultation on employment agency enforcement, 8 of which contained substantive comments. All substantive respondents were fully in support of the broad thrust of the proposals contained in the consultation document.
8.Industrial Court provisions, relating to new regulation-making powers and the removal of the restriction that requires the Department to provide the Court case manager, were previously consulted upon as part of the Public Authorities Reform Order from 24 January to 20 April 2007. Three responses were received, with the Industrial Court welcoming the provision of regulation-making powers. The change to consultation rights in relation to the appointment of the Certification Officer is as a result of discussions between the Department and the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) on the need for clarification on this matter.
