In a major report to be published as early as this week, the Coalition will reveal the findings of the Beecroft Report which was commissioned by David Cameron to look at workplace deregulation reports The Telegraph.
Although the Government has yet to agree to the proposals, Whitehall sources have made it clear that both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor want to see changes to the present employment environment which it is believed ties business leaders up in too much red tape.
Proposals in the report include reducing the length of consultations businesses have to enter into before making “collective redundancies” from 90 days to 30 days, a relaxation of the transfer of undertaking (TUPE) rules which are enforced during a take-over and a change to the work permit regime to make it the responsibility of the Home Office and the Border Agency to warn businesses if permits for foreign workers are invalid or about to expire.
The report will be published by the Department for Business, Industry and Skills and is set to reveal tensions with the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, a Liberal Democrat member of the Cabinet.
When parts of the Beecroft Report were leaked to The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph last autumn, there was a backlash from some sections of the Liberal Democrat Party, as well as the Labour opposition and the trade unions.
The report said that employment tribunal rules should be relaxed to make it easier to dismiss under-performing staff.
The Beecroft Report is named after Adrian Beecroft, the venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor, who was brought in by Number 10 after the Prime Minister expressed frustration at the lack of progress on deregulation.
