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Written Question
Freeports: Industrial Relations
Monday 20th February 2023

Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether existing trade union and labour relations laws will operate inside freeport zones in the same way they operate outside of them.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Freeports will maintain the UK's high standards with respect to workers' rights and Freeport areas are subject to the relevant legislation to ensure this, including relevant UK employment laws and protections.

Written Question
Freeports: Staff
Monday 20th February 2023

Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many employees currently work in each UK freeport; and how many (1) full, and (2) part, time jobs have been created in existing freeports in the UK.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

With the majority of English Freeports now fully up-and-running, we are starting to see them attract new investment to their regions. Following the construction of new facilities and infrastructure, this investment will deliver thousands of high-quality, long-term jobs for local communities. For example, SeAH Wind Ltd are investing £400 million in the Teesside Freeport to build an offshore wind manufacturing facility that will create around 1,500 jobs.

That is just one example: English Freeports expect to create 130,000 direct and over 80,000 indirect jobs. On top of this, we recently announced two new Green Freeports in Scotland, which estimate they will create over 75,000 new, high-skilled jobs. These forecasts will be reviewed through a baselining exercise in early 2023 and performance against them tracked and reported on as part of the UK Freeports Programme Annual Report (attached). The next Annual Report is due to be published towards the end of this year.