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Education and Skills Bill

In respect of Amendment No. 160, there is some doubt whether as a matter of law Crown employees such as civil servants in central government work under a contract of employment. We want this kind of work to count for the purposes of the duty to participate, of course, and Clause 50 makes that clear. The definition of ““normal weekly working hours”” in Clause 5 will need to be modified in relation to Crown employees, as they do not have a contract of employment as such. Regulations made under subsection (2) will enable us to do that. It is appropriate that such technical detail is dealt with in secondary legislation. Government Amendments Nos. 161 and 163 in this group clarify that the duties on employers in Chapter 3 apply to employment in this House and in another place. It is right that this employment should count for the purposes of the duty to participate—and the duties to check that a young person is in educational training and to release them to attend—to ensure that these young people can participate in the necessary learning. However, it would not be appropriate for local authorities to have powers of enforcement against this House or another place. The amendment clarifies that those provisions in Chapter 3 do not apply. Government Amendment No. 164 is a consequence of the new clause that we are introducing in relation to House of Lords staff. The relevant definition is included in the proposed new clause and can therefore be deleted from this one. Government Amendments Nos. 165 and 166 are minor and technical. Amendment No. 165 replaces the definition currently in the Bill of a member of House of Commons staff with a reference to an existing definition in the Employment Rights Act. Amendment No. 166 makes provision for who is to be treated as the employer in relation to House of Commons staff.