The latest annual employment trends survey has been published by the CBI and employment agency Pertemps.

It suggested that a proposed European Union directive could damage employment opportunities in Britain.

It found that 45 per cent of employers would offer fewer temporary work placements if a new directive was implemented in the UK.

And extra costs would make employing temporary workers less affordable, according to 59 per cent of respondents.

Forum Response: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

A spokesman for CIPD told ePolitix.com: "CIPD agrees that adoption of the draft directive on agency working would reduce job opportunities, particularly for those groups who find it most difficult to move directly into permanent jobs.

"Employers' worries about the impact of removing the opt-out on working time may be over-stated: there is no problem about accommodating occasional overtime within the framework of the regulations since the 48 hour limit can be averaged over a period of months.

"In any case it is undesirable on health grounds for workers to be required to work consistently long hours over a lengthy period.

"The proportion of employers reporting that trade unions are not involved in their consultation processes is surprisingly high. But undoubtedly more employers will adopt processes for informing and consulting employees as the date for implementing the EU directive gets closer."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the BRC, told ePolitix.com: "Many people choose flexible working arrangements because it suits their lifestyles. The retail industry by nature has always had the ability to meet this demand, and is a pioneer of flexible working patterns.

"The EU proposals to remove the right to opt out of the Working Time Directive and those set out in the Temporary Agency Workers Directive will greatly impact upon the flexibility that retailers provide at present.

"Removing the choice for employees to work overtime will reduce the flexibility that employers and employees rely on, as well as reducing retailers competitiveness and productivity, damaging the UK economy. SME retailers will be particularly badly hit by this.

"Temporary agency workers meet a genuine demand for flexibility from both employers and employees. The ultimate aim of the directive should be to facilitate the use of temporary work as a flexible solution to meeting a real demand of the current labour market, while avoiding any marginalisation of temporary workers.

"However, the additional costs resulting from the new directive will force retailers to limit their employment of temporary workers and reduce flexible work options for working mothers or the long-term unemployed."

Forum Response: Federation of Small Businesses

Juliana Leonard, policy development officer at the FSB, told ePolitix.com: "The FSB welcomes the report published today by the CBI and Pertemps.

"The figures confirm what business organisations have been saying for a long time - that the Temporary Workers Directive and removal of the 48 hour opt out in the Working Time Directive will seriously undermine the flexible workforce in the UK.

"Small businesses in particular rely on a flexible labour force and will be hit hardest by both these directives.

"The FSB will continue to lobby for a retention of the 48 hour opt out and to minimise the more burdensome aspects of the Temporary Workers Directive."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

A spokesman for the Institute of Directors told ePolitix.com: "Measures already taken by employers to accommodate the flexible working needs of their workforce are laudable and are to be encouraged.

"These measures have all been introduced on a voluntary basis. British employers are ahead of the 'work-life balance' agenda. More legislation is quite simply unwarranted."