Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to impose a legal duty on employers to state in job advertisements whether flexible working arrangements are available.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government’s proposals for flexible working were set set out in our consultation, which was published in September 2021.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with employers on the proposed statutory code of practice on fire and rehire practices.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government remains committed to bringing forward a new statutory code on the practice of dismissal and re-engagement (fire and rehire).
Work is underway and BEIS Officials have already met with key stakeholders to discuss the drafting of the statutory code.
We will publish a draft for consultation in due course and bring the code into force when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with trade unions on the proposed statutory code of practice on fire and rehire practices.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government remains committed to bringing forward a new statutory code on the practice of dismissal and re-engagement (fire and rehire).
Work is underway and BEIS Officials have already met with key stakeholders to discuss the drafting of the statutory code.
We will publish a draft for consultation in due course and bring the code into force when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to introduce its proposed statutory code on fire and rehire.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government remains committed to bringing forward a new statutory code on the practice of dismissal and re-engagement (fire and rehire).
Work is underway and BEIS Officials have already met with key stakeholders to discuss the drafting of the statutory code.
We will publish a draft for consultation in due course and bring the code into force when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will bring umbrella companies under the remit of the Director for Labour Market Enforcement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The role of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) is to set strategic direction for the three main labour market enforcement bodies and oversee an annual assessment of the scale and nature of non-compliance.
The Government recently ran a Call for Evidence on the umbrella company market to ensure it has a detailed and up to date understanding of the market and how it is continuing to evolve. The call for evidence closed on 22 February 2022 and the Government will use the information it has gathered to inform future policy development and will publish a summary of responses in due course.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the anonymity of claimants on the Employment Tribunal decisions database where requested.
Answered by Paul Scully
Personal data is exempt from the provisions of GDPR where it is required to be disclosed by law. Regulation 14(1) of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations requires the Lord Chancellor to maintain a public register of all decisions issued by Employment Tribunals. As a result, the online register of employment tribunal decisions is exempt from the provisions of GDPR.
Employment Tribunals may make an order that the identities of specified parties in proceedings should not be disclosed to the public, by anonymisation or otherwise, in any documents entered on the register.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he has taken to ensure that the Employment Tribunal decisions database protects the data privacy rights of claimants.
Answered by Paul Scully
Personal data is exempt from the provisions of GDPR where it is required to be disclosed by law. Regulation 14(1) of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations requires the Lord Chancellor to maintain a public register of all decisions issued by Employment Tribunals. As a result, the online register of employment tribunal decisions is exempt from the provisions of GDPR.
Employment Tribunals may make an order that the identities of specified parties in proceedings should not be disclosed to the public, by anonymisation or otherwise, in any documents entered on the register.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
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 Levelling Up White Paper, whether the policies on delivering higher wages in poorer communities will involve strengthening trade union power.
Answered by Paul Scully
A key part of levelling up is boosting productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging. As set out in the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, improvements across all six capitals - physical, human, intangible, financial, social and institutional - are fundamental to achieving increases in productivity and wages.
The Government believes that our Trade Union legislation, as amended by the Trade Union Act 2016, strikes the right balance. The Trade Union Act modernises the UK’s industrial relations framework to better support an effective and collaborative approach to resolving industrial disputes, balancing the interests of unions with the interests of the wider public. The Act makes strike laws fairer for working people by ensuring that strikes only happen as a result of a clear, democratic decision by those entitled to vote, restoring public confidence that where industrial action takes place, it has the strong support of union members. The Act therefore strikes a fairer balance between the rights of unions and the needs of employers and the wider public.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
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 the recommendation by the Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform Taskforce, in its report published in June 2021, to reimpose the one in, two out regulatory offset principle.
Answered by Paul Scully
A joint consultation on “Reforming the Framework for Better Regulation” between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Cabinet Office was launched on 22 July 2021. The consultation examined relevant recommendations from the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform report, including reimposing the one in, two out regulatory offset principle. The consultation received 188 responses from a range of stakeholders including business and trade and industry bodies. The Government response to the consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
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 Answer of 10 February 2021 to Question 147880 on Director of Labour Market Enforcement, on what date he plans to make an appointment announcement in respect of the post of Director of Labour Market Enforcement.
Answered by Paul Scully
As set out in our answer of 10 February, earlier in the year we launched a campaign to appoint a Director of Labour Market Enforcement. Since then, we have been progressing the appointment process which is now nearing its conclusion. We hope to be able to announce the successful candidate in the near future.