Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that workers receive tribunal awards in cases where the respondent company has entered (a) administration and (b) liquidation.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a compensation fund for workers unable to recover tribunal awards due to employer insolvency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has considered bringing forward legislative proposals to make company directors personally liable for unpaid employment tribunal awards.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the establishment of phoenix companies on the number of unpaid employment tribunal awards.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many employment tribunal awards have been made each year since 2016; and what proportion of those have been (a) paid in (i) full and (ii) part and (b) remain unpaid.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has considered introducing restrictions on directors who repeatedly preside over companies that fail to comply with tribunal judgments.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to give the Fair Work Agency powers to pursue company directors where a company has failed to pay a tribunal award.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department (a) collects and (b) publishes data on the outcomes of employment tribunal enforcement actions taken under (i) the employment tribunal penalty enforcement scheme, (ii) employment tribunal fast track enforcement and (iii) county court judgments.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how his Department expects the Fair Work Agency to coordinate with (a) HMRC, (b) the Insolvency Service and (c) other existing enforcement bodies to ensure workers receive unpaid awards.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the proposed budget for the Fair Work Agency for tackling non-payment of tribunal awards.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Workers should receive the payments they are entitled to. As part of the Plan for Change we will look at ways of strengthening enforcement options, including the Employment Tribunal Penalty scheme which will move to the Fair Work Agency (FWA) once established.
The proposed powers of the FWA are set out in the Employment Rights Bill and we are committed to ensuring that it has the appropriate resources to discharge its responsibilities. The FWA will work closely with HMRC, Insolvency Service and other relevant enforcement bodies to do this as effectively as possible. This will include considering how to use existing powers to tackle misuse of phoenix companies.