Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many full-time equivalent Enforcement Officers his Department has employed in the reporting periods (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019- 20 and (c) 2020-21.
Information on the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorates budget, FTE Staff and FTE Officers is set out below. Budgets for 2021-22 and 2022-23 have not yet been formalised:
Year | Budget | FTE Staff | FTE Officers |
2018-19 | £0.725m | 13 | 10 |
2019-20 | £1.125m | 28.8* | 18.8 |
2020-21 | £1.525m | 28.8 | 18.8 |
* Recruitment of staff took place towards the end of the 2019-20 Financial Year
The Employment Agency Standards Annual Report for 2018/19 was due to be published in April 2020. All non-COVID-19 publications were halted at that time to ensure the timely dissemination of business-critical information. The annual report will be published in due course.
Umbrella companies do not currently fall within the remit of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) and therefore no investigations have been undertaken. The Government has committed to extending the remit of the EAS to umbrella companies. EAS continues to work closely with the industries Trade Bodies to ensure Agency workers interests are addressed.