Business Hiring
Debate between Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath and Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway
Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for his question but remind him that, thanks to our industrial strategy, employment is rising. Employment rights are improving too. We are determined to reduce unemployment further, especially among the young, which is why we are investing so much in the youth guarantee and are poised to go further when the Milburn review reports back later this year. I am aware of the situation where AI recruiting is impacting on graduate appointments and recruitment, and I am also aware that the Government have issued guidance to employers to ensure that this is a reducing problem, not an increasing one.
Baroness O’Grady of Upper Holloway (Lab)
My Lords, is my noble friend aware of the latest Manpower survey of employers that reports a surge in hiring intentions for the third quarter of this year, placing the UK in the top division of the global league? Does she agree that any efforts to suggest that stronger workers’ rights hit hiring intentions do a disservice to the many decent employers who already offer enhanced sick pay and other stronger protections?
Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath (Lab)
Yes. As my noble friend quite rightly points out, it is very encouraging to see Manpower reporting an 18 percentage point increase in businesses planning to recruit since last year, and also reporting that we have the fourth most positive hiring outlook globally. That is undeniably good news, though I am sure the whole House will agree with me when I express my keen hope that the England men’s football team goes beyond fourth to become the very best team globally by the end of the week—with apologies to Welsh, Northern Irish and in particular Scottish colleagues across the House.
On the second part of her question, I completely agree with my noble friend that our country has many good employers who see absolutely no conflict between protecting their employees from the consequences of ill health, for example, and running successful companies that compete profitably.