“Today’s announcement provided welcome confirmation that government is refocusing on some of the issues that matter for growth such as TUPE, reform of employment tribunals and settlement agreements. But, business will be underwhelmed that the overall package contained nothing to speed up progress on delivering these reforms.
“The coalition is now half way through its term yet there continues to be a lack of progress and cohesion with its plans for employment reform. While government is making gradual progress in some areas, this is being undermined by other measures such as fines on employers, gender pay audits and the threat of a complex system of shared parental leave.
“The government has missed the opportunity to send a powerful signal to business that it has got its programme of delivering genuine employment reform back on track.”