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lift the restrictions from individual employers whilst the same type of employment under other employers continues to be restricted.
21.
In round terms the argument the DEP has in mind is that a rule provided for a young person's protection either is really necessary for his protection, or it is not. If it is not, it ought not to be a rule at all. If it is, then dispensing with it means depriving the young person of needed protection, and this ought not to be done in peacetine except there it simply cannot be helped because of the nature of the employment.
22. It follows from this argument that firstly the restrictions should be reduced to the minimum necessary for the young person's protection, and secondly these minimum restrictions should be made mandatory and inescapable, save as in paragraph 14 above. Such a system would have some attraction for both employers' associations and trade unions. Reducing the restrictions to the bare minimum would increase the likelihood of almost all employers being able to apply them without difficulty, and if an isolated employer was still inconvenienced this might be a reasonable price to pay for the gains to employers in general, and in particular the removal of the difficulties in planning created by the present uncertainty as to whether or not a special exemption order will be forthcoming, and even if it is, how long it will be continued. Trade unions might feel that a bare minimum set of rules, but enough to provide the protection really needed and not subject to dispensation, was a more effective guarantee of protection than a more restrictive set of rules subject to exemption by the enforcing authority whether central or local.
Exceptional Emergencies
23. It would probably be necessary to provide the enforcing authorities with a narrow power of temporary suspension because of breakdowns and the like. This might be along the lines of Section 96 of the Factories Act, 1961.
Minimum Pattern of Restrictions
24. One circumstance that helps to make it feasible to draw up an acceptable minimum pattern of rules is that the interests of employers and young persons are not directly opposed to each other; broadly speaking they need different things, and these are compatible. It is of course essential that young people should be able to attend educational courses regularly, and working hours should be arranged accordingly. Apart from this, however, what the young person needs is an adequate amount of leisure, which he can enjoy without being too tired, and at times of day when he can remain in the swim with his contemporaries. It does not matter so much to him whether this leisure is distributed absolutely evenly as between one day and another or one week and another. Thus his needs are such as to permit flexibility, and it is this, rather than excessive total hours, that employers need.
25. A possible scheme along these lines is set out in paragraphs 27 to 40 below for comment.
Other Restrictions on Children of School Age
26. Children below the minimum school leaving age are subject to other restrictions on employment under the Education Acts and the Children and Young Persons Acts. It is assumed that on the raising of the school age these restrictions would in general be extended to the new school leaving age. However, it would be necessary to consider the possibility of implementing the majority recommendation (paragraph 67 of the report) that if it is
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