Mr. Derek Priestley:

I will take the working time directive question. The Senator asked how it is being implemented. Following a long period of upwards of seven or eight years, three years ago we got into a series of consultations with the Department and PDFORRA was involved. They turned out to be very productive. There is what we call a three-strand approach at the moment. Strands 1 and 2 have more or less been implemented. We are in the process of briefing members and seeing delivery and positive moves. Members are being informed that when they work for extensive or extended periods, they now have a time-off in lieu provision. That has been set out in various directives and guides. Certain changes in regulations have to come. Without a doubt, after a long campaign some positive moves are happening. The third strand is the strand we felt should have happened first. It was about recording working time. While we have a personnel management system, it does not record time per se. It will record a day's or a half day's attendance. That is still problematic because it does not define the working day, working week, working month or even working year. For the working time directive 17-week reference period, we do not know where members stand on that. There is a trial project, and a procurement process has commenced to bring in a system, but we are a bit away from that. We would have liked to have seen that strand going. There is still a fair amount of work to be done, particularly around defining the working day and week, so the reference period in the working time directive can be apparent. We have urged the Department to move on that as quickly as possible to get that action done. As we said, we felt that would have been first.