Business of the House

Andy McDonald Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I heard my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, set out plans that are giving people increasing confidence in the prospects for renewables investment in this country. I will of course look at the situation the hon. Gentleman raises, which must be of concern to his constituents in Wrexham in particular, and ask my hon. Friends at the Department for their response. The general context, as the hon. Gentleman will understand, is that we are making tremendous progress on private sector jobs, with more than 1.6 million more private sector jobs since the election.

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)]

Happy Christmas, Mr Speaker.

May we have a debate on the proliferation of low-paid bogus self-employment arrangements, especially in the hospitality industry, which are responsible for so many personal cost of living crises?

[Mr Lansley]

Happily, the hon. Gentleman may recall that during the autumn statement the Chancellor set out some of the ways Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is continuing to bear down on schemes that are clearly designed to avoid tax. If I recall correctly, they included issues relating to the question of employment and self-employment, and they will be pursued in that context.