Employment Rights Bill

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 23rd July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

My Lords, I support the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and others who have tabled amendments, and I congratulate them on persevering to Report on this important issue. Like the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, I think it is regrettable that it has come so late, towards the end of term, but this is an important issue.

I welcome what the Government have done in appointing a freelance champion and look forward to the impact that that will have. However, as noble Lords on the Cross Benches have said, the proof will be in the pudding about this person’s clout and purchase, and their authority to speak across Whitehall.

The noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, spoke about the anonymity of many freelancers in the creative industries and the arts, and the noble Viscount, Lord Colville, talked about the way that they lose out in terms of their employment rights, including in some very serious ways that affect their safety. I will add a few words about my perspective, having been a Minister at DCMS, to note how they also lose out in the conversations that are had in Whitehall. When ministerial round tables are assembled, it is very easy for officials to gather the employers or the heads of trade unions who can speak on behalf of large numbers of workers. However, it is very difficult to find somebody who can speak on behalf of all freelancers; they are a more nebulous and disparate group of people, and they lose out in the conversations that are sometimes had.

There needs to be the understanding, which noble Lords have expressed, that, in parts of the performing arts and the creative industries, people work as freelancers not because it is a career choice but because it is a structural necessity of having a career in these rewarding sectors. It is also the case, when we ask people to help advise the Government, to sit on advisory panels or to take part in government commissions, that, if they do not have the safety net of a regular employer, they are not able to give as much time as those who are in more structured forms of employment can. They are therefore also losing out in terms of feeding into the policy-making conversations there.

It is important that the voices of freelancers, particularly in the creative industries and the arts, are heard. The questions about the clout and purchase that the new champion will have—particularly about whether this person will be paid and have some authority—are important. I congratulate the noble Lords on continuing with this important set of amendments.