Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of UK labour market inspection performance against International Labour Organization benchmarks for (a) the number of labour market inspectors per 10,000 persons employed and (b) the average number of labour inspection visits conducted per inspector.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
This Government has an excellent record on enforcement of employment rights. As part of this we have more than doubled the budget for minimum wage enforcement and compliance, which is now over £27 million per year. In 2020/21 HMRC concluded over 2,700 minimum wage investigations, and returned more than £16.7m in arrears to over 155,000 workers. HMRC issued 575 fines totalling more than £14m to businesses who had failed to pay the minimum wage.
The Government also continues to invest in the work of the Employment Agency Standards inspectorate (EAS) and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) which protects vulnerable and exploited workers.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
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 staff were employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dean Russell
The following table provides a year-on-year breakdown of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate:
Year | Number of Full Time Equivalent Staff as of the 1st April for each year (unless otherwise stated) |
2010/11 | 29 (as of 1 May 2010) |
2011/12 | 23 |
2012/13 | 16 |
2013/14 | 12 |
2014/15 | 2 |
2015/16 | 11 |
2016/17 | 11 |
2017/18 | 12 |
2018/19 | 12.6 |
2019/20 | 27.6 |
2020/21 | 17.5 |
2021/22 | 22.3 |
2022 | 30.4 (as of 31st August 2022) |
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of the full-time equivalent staff employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate work in front-line roles involving site inspections as on 2 September 2022.
Answered by Dean Russell
As of 2nd September 2022, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate employ 27.4 FTE staff in frontline roles involving site inspections.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the document entitled Establishing a new single enforcement body for employment rights: Government response, published in June 2021, whether it is still his Department's policy to establish a single enforcement body for employment rights.
Answered by Dean Russell
The creation of a single enforcement body for employment rights requires primary legislation which will only be introduced when parliamentary time allows.
The creation of this new body will be a substantial organisational change, so it is right that we take our time to thoroughly consider all aspects of this reform before proceeding.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) financial penalties and (b) criminal prosecutions there were for offences under the Employment Agencies Standards Regulations in each year since 2010; and how many and what proportion of prosecutions for such offences led to a conviction in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Employment Agencies Standards inspectorate (EAS) does not issue financial penalties as it’s legislation does not include provisions to do so. Below is a table setting out the number of prosecutions finalised in each year since 2010 and the proportion of convictions based on Financial Years. The number is low as there are other routes used by EAS to achieve compliance with the legislation and prosecution is considered as a last resort:
Year | Number of Prosecutions | Proportion resulting in conviction |
2009/10 | 0 | 0 |
2010/11 | 0 | 0 |
2011/12 | 0 | 0 |
2012/13 | 4 | 50% |
2013/14 | 2 | 100% |
2014/15 | 2 | 100% |
2015/16 | 1 | 100% |
2016/17 | 0 | 0 |
2017/18 | 0 | 0 |
2018/19 | 3 | 100% |
2019/20 | 2 | 100% |
2020/21 | 3 | 100% |
2021/22 | 5 | 100% |
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the terms of reference are for the review of Operation Tacit by the Director of Labour Market Enforcement; what estimate he has made of when that review will be completed; and if he will publish the findings of that review.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Director of Labour Market Enforcement is an independent statutory office holder. The terms of reference, timing, and publication of her review are matters for her.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it remains the Government’s policy to establish a single enforcement body for employment rights, as stated in its response of June 2021 to a consultation on proposals for such an enforcement body.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The creation of this new body will be a substantial organisational change, so it is right that we take our time to thoroughly consider all aspects of this reform before proceeding.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of all full-time equivalent staff employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate work in front-line roles involving site inspections as of 6 September 2022.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
As of 6th September 2022, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate employ 27.4 FTE staff in frontline roles involving site inspections.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2022 to Question 27630, how many complaints relating to employment agencies operating in the care sector were (a) received and (b) investigated by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in each of the last five years; and how many and what proportion of those complaints led to enforcement action.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The information requested on complaints received by the Employment Agency standards Inspectorate (EAS) for the Care sector is set out in the following table:
Year | Complaints received * | Cases investigated | Cases where enforcement action has been taken | Proportion of Cases where enforcement action has been taken |
2017 | 57 | 14 | 14 | 25% |
2018 | 93 | 25 | 24 | 25% |
2019 | 127 | 52 | 22 | 17% |
2020 | 124 | 54 | 22 | 18% |
2021 | 119 | 51 | 24 | 20% |
The majority of cases received related to ‘sleeping time’ which falls to HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Team to consider.
*This data includes all cases related to Healthcare which includes Nursing, Locum GPS and Care as the data is not differentiated at this time.
Data comes from a live casework system thus is subject to change.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of legally requiring care sector recruitment agencies to demonstrate that they are not charging recruitment fees as a pre-condition for obtaining their licence to operate.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Employment Agencies Act 1973 and its associated Conduct Regulations apply to all recruitment agencies operating in Great Britain and are enforced by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate. This state-enforced framework prohibits recruitment agencies operating in Great Britain from charging work-finding fees, so any agency in the care sector in Great Britain that charges work-finding fees is acting illegally. EAS investigates all relevant complaints. It takes a compliance-based approach initially to support businesses to correct breaches but does undertake robust enforcement action where necessary.