The Information Commissioner's Office has launched a consultation on a draft statutory code of practice to explain how the Data Protection Act 1998 applies to sharing personal data. It aims to help data controllers identify the issues to consider when determining whether or not to share data. The code of practice must be taken into account by tribunals and courts, if it is relevant to determining an issue, and by the Information Commissioner, if it is relevant to the exercise of his or her functions.
Consultation document: Data sharing code of practice: consultation paper (PDF format, 1.06MB) (on the
Information Commissioner's Office website)
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) consults on the
implementation of new rules governing the disclosure of pay and bonuses in the
finance sector. Under the Capital Requirements Directive, which comes
into effect on 1 January 2011, financial services firms have to release details
of their pay and bonus policies on an annual basis.
Consultation
document: Implementing
CRD3 requirements on the disclosure of remuneration (on the FSA website)
The Government consults on secondary legislation that is needed for the single public sector equality duty that the Equality Act 2010 introduces. The new duty replaces the separate duties on public bodies relating to race, disability and sex, and also covers age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment.
Consultation document: Equality Act 2010: the public sector equality duty - promoting equality through transparency (on the Government Equalities Office website)
Government response:
Equality Act 2010: the public sector equality duty - promoting equality through transparency - summary of responses to the consultation (PDF format, 248K) (on the Government Equalities Office website)
The Bribery Act 2010 introduced a corporate offence of a failure to prevent bribery by persons working on behalf of a business, which comes into force in April 2011. An organisation has a defence if it has put in place adequate measures to prevent bribery. The consultation document sets out six guiding principles and examples of measures that organisations can take to prevent bribery. The consultation seeks views on the guidance.
Consultation document: Consultation on guidance about commercial organisations preventing bribery (section 9 of the Bribery Act 2010) (PDF format, 526K) (on the
Ministry of Justice website)
Government response: Guidance about commercial organisations preventing bribery (section 9 of the Bribery Act 2010) (PDF format, 360K) (on the
Ministry of Justice website)
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The Government consults on draft guidance to assist with the interpretation of the definition of a disability under the Equality Act 2010. The Act defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The guidance will be taken into account by employment tribunals and courts in determining whether or not a person has a disability.
Consultation document: Equality Act 2010 consultation: Guidance on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability (on the Office for Disability Issues website)
Government response: Government response to the consultation: Guidance on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability (on the Office for Disability Issues website)
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The Government consults on proposals to remove the default retirement age by 1 October 2011. The Government plans to phase out the default retirement age by prescribing that from 6 April 2011, employers will be prohibited from issuing new notifications of retirement using the default retirement age. After 1 October 2011, employers will be unable to prescribe a compulsory retirement age, unless they can justify it as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
Consultation document: Phasing out the default retirement age (PDF format, 440K) (on the
BIS website)
Government response: Phasing out the default retirement age: Government response to consultation (PDF format, 111K) (on the
BIS website)
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The Government consults on improvements to the narrative reporting framework. Narrative reporting is the information in company reports that is not financial. The consultation's aims are to: enhance the quality of narrative reporting, including on social and environmental issues; ensure that the issues reported on are relevant so that shareholders can hold companies to account; and achieve coherence without increasing the regulatory burden.
Consultation document: The future of narrative reporting: a consultation (PDF format, 121K) (on the
BIS website)
Government response: The future of narrative reporting: a consultation (PDF format, 461K) (on the
BIS website)
The Government consults on proposals to simplify and improve the efficacy of the further education and skills funding system and methodology. This includes considering how to support reduced operating costs of funding bodies. The Government seeks views on its proposals in respect of: the funding and eligibility policy; setting funding rates and the funding methodology; allocations, procurement and contracts; and performance management, payment, data collection and audit.
Consultation document: A simplified further education and skills funding system and methodology (PDF format, 282K) (on the
BIS website)
The Government consults on a redesign of the skills system. It asks for views on where public investment is most valuable and how the skills system can be made simpler and more effective. The Government considers that employers and learners should have access to good information about the merit of different types of learning and quality of providers and be able to choose the training that they consider is most valuable.
Consultation document: Skills for sustainable growth: consultation on the future direction of skills policy (PDF format, 394K) (on the
BIS website)
The Government consults on proposals to simplify the PAYE system. It proposes a system whereby employers would report deductions to HMRC at the time of paying staff rather than once a year.
Consultation document: Improving the operation of PAYE (on the
HM Revenue & Customs website)
The Scottish Government consults on its revised guidance on child
protection, which is intended to provide a national framework within which
agencies and practitioners at local level can draw up and agree on their own
ways of working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The
guidance is aimed at all public services, agencies, professional bodies and
organisations, and individuals working within an adult and child service
provider context facing, or potentially facing, child protection
issues.
Consultation document: Draft national
guidance for child protection in Scotland consultation (on the Scottish
Government website)
The Government consults on whether or not it should repeal the statutory right to make a request in relation to study or training. The statutory right, which came into force for employees in organisations with 250 or more employees on 6 April 2010, is due to extend to employees in organisations with fewer than 250 employees in April 2011. The Government proposes an alternative, which is to amend the statutory right to reduce the burden on employers that already operate training schemes.
Consultation document: Time to train? Consultation on the future of the right to request time to train policy (PDF format, 115K) (on the
BIS website)
Consultation response: Consultation on the future of the right to request "time to train" Regulations: government response (PDF format, 257K) (on the
BIS website)
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The NHS staff council consults employers and trade unions on on-call pay arrangements. It seeks views on the principles that will form the framework for negotiations on on-call pay. The new on-call arrangements will apply from April 2011.
The Government consults on the number of non-EU economic migrants permitted to enter the UK for work purposes and how such a limit will work in practice. The Government will introduce an annual cap for Tier 1 (highly-skilled individuals) and Tier 2 (skilled workers with a job offer) applications under the points-based system from April 2011.
Consultation document: Consultation by the Migration Advisory Committee on the level of an annual limit on economic migration to the UK (PDF format, 215K) (on the
UK Border Agency website)
The Hutton Review of fair pay in the public sector invites views on fair pay matters. The questions for response include: whether or not respondents agree that a difference in pay of twenty to one between the highest and lowest earners is an appropriate tool for promoting fairness in pay; and whether or not a perception of fair pay has an impact on productivity or brings any other advantages to an organisation. The Hutton Review is reviewing pay scales in the public sector and will suggest how to ensure that no public sector manager earns more than twenty times the lowest paid individual in an organisation.
Consultation document: Call for evidence (on the
HM Treasury website)
The Government consults on draft legislation on technical tax measures, including those relating to the taxation of settlements for individuals affected by an asbestos-related condition and taxation of the National Employment Savings Trust pension scheme. It seeks views on whether or not the legislation serves its purpose.
Consultation document: Autumn Finance Bill: an informal consultation (on the
HM Treasury website)
The Government invites individuals and organisations to submit evidence on when the state pension age should be raised to 66, on the basis that people will be receiving their state pension for longer than anticipated when the increase was determined. The previous Government fixed the increase in the state pension age to 66 to take place by 2026, to 67 by 2036 and to 68 by 2046.
Consultation document: When should the state pension age increase to 66? A call for evidence (PDF format, 105K) (on the
DWP website)
Government response: A sustainable state pension: when the state pension age will increase to 66 (PDF format, 1.34M) (on the
DWP website)
The Government invites views on the implementation of the Work Programme. It has introduced an informal facility for external suppliers to comment on the capital raising and payment model aspects of the Work Programme.
Consultation document: The Work Programme: your thoughts - comment online (on the
HM Treasury website)
The Government consults on its proposals for replacing the various discrimination questionnaires with a single set of paperwork (guidance and forms) covering all types of discrimination, as part of the streamlining of discrimination law under the Equality Act 2010. There are separate statutory discrimination questionnaires relating to all strands of discrimination law and they are intended to assist a complainant who feels that he or she has been subjected to discrimination by the employer by providing a way of obtaining information from the employer about the alleged discriminatory treatment.
Consultation document: New streamlined procedure for obtaining information about potential discrimination and equality of term cases (on the Government Equalities Office website)
The Department for Children, Schools and Families consults on whether to minimise or remove completely the category of controlled activity in relation to children and vulnerable adults in the vetting and barring scheme. This could be done by moving some posts into regulated activity and removing others from the scheme's scope. The consultation is taking place because the issue of how useful the controlled activity category is has arisen.
Consultation document: Public Consultation on continuing need for a controlled activity category in the Vetting and Barring Scheme (on the
DCSF website)
The Department for Children, Schools and Families consults on whether or not the requirement for Criminal Records Bureau disclosures should be amended for workers who work with vulnerable groups, when they are already required to be registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority under the vetting and barring scheme.
Consultation document: Consultation on statutory requirements and advice,
for CRB disclosures for safeguarding purposes, on workers
already registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (on the
DCSF website)
The Government consults on options to achieve a 90% uptake of eco-driving training for drivers of large goods vehicles (LGVs). It also considers whether or not a similar approach should be adopted for drivers of passenger carrying vehicles (PCVs).
Consultation document: Increasing the uptake of eco-driving training for drivers of LGVs and PCVs (on the DfT website)
The Government consults on travel and subsistence scheme arrangements for temporary workers paid at or near the national minimum wage, because it is concerned that the schemes are being used to exploit workers. The proposals are that expenses paid for travel to a temporary workplace, which would be free of tax and national insurance contributions, would no longer count as pay for national minimum wage purposes.
Consultation document: National minimum wage workers: travel and subsistence expenses schemes (on the
HM Treasury website)
Government response: A summary of responses to national minimum wage workers: travel and subsistence expenses schemes (on the
HM Treasury website)
The Government consults on proposals to improve the circumstances of people who need to trace employers' liability insurance policies to obtain compensation for an accident that occurred during their employment. The proposals seek to alleviate problems caused when individuals are diagnosed with a disease several years after their employment has terminated, by which time records as to insurance details may have been lost or destroyed. The Government wishes to create an Employers’ Liability Tracing Office to manage a database of policies and to set up a compensation fund of last resort.
Consultation document: Accessing consultation - supporting people who need to trace employers' liability insurance (PDF format, 355K) (on the
DWP website)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) consults on draft non-statutory guidance on the employment aspects of the Equality Bill. The purpose of the guidance is to help people understand the Equality Bill and how it will affect them. Unlike the draft code of practice on employment, the guidance is not intended to be used as evidence in legal proceedings, but has been aligned with the draft code of practice and suggests practical ways of implementing it.
Consultation document: Consultation on draft non-statutory guidance on employment (on the
EHRC website)