Consultation on the future of the right to request time to train policy
Open date: 11 Aug 2010
Closing date: 15 Sep 2010
Response date: 06 Jul 2011
Consultation seeking views about the future of the ‘right to request time to train’ legislation and whether the right should be repealed, retained for large organisations or extended to small and medium sized organisations as planned. BIS has considered replies to the consultation and has summarised them in a Government response.
The legal right to allow workers in businesses with more than 250 employees, to request time to take up relevant training came into effect from 6 April this year.
The Government has announced a review of all regulations in a bid to reduce burdens on business. This consultation aims to gather opinions on the right to request time to train and will feed in to the review.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is interested in hearing views on the regulation from employees, businesses and other interested parties.
Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning minister, John Hayes, said:
“Before we make any decisions about the future of the right to request time to train, it is important that we gauge views of the regulation and whether it is improving training opportunities for employees.
“We believe it is important that all regulations are properly scrutinised and we are therefore interested in hearing views on the future of this right and its role in promoting training in the workplace, which I see as vital to our economic success.
“I have asked my officials to ensure that this consultation is actively promoted to ensure that we get a broad range of views.”
This consultation was shorter than the normal 12 weeks as the Department previously consulted on the implementation of the right to request time to train in 2008. Main interested parties were notified of this. It closed on 15 September to fit in with the timetable for reviewing regulations.
Impact Assessment issued dated 1 December 2011
Download the consultation
Download the government response
