Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
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 Government response entitled Good work: a response to the Taylor Review of modern working practices, published on 7 February 2018, what steps he is taking to promote quality work through sector deals.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Developing better jobs for everyone in the British economy is at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy. We are proud to be the first Government to have taken responsibility for both quality and quantity of work, and are working to promote good work across the UK. We will be setting out our next steps for measuring and improving the quality of work in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
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 Government response entitled Good work: a response to the Taylor Review of modern working practices, published on 7 February 2018, when the first assessment of the quality of work in the UK is planned to be published.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Developing better jobs for everyone in the British economy is at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy. We are proud to be the first Government to have taken responsibility for both quality and quantity of work, and are working to promote good work across the UK. We will be setting out our next steps for measuring and improving the quality of work in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Low Pay Commission will publish the response to its consultation on (a) the effect of a higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours in a contract and (b) alternative means for tackling one sided flexibility.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Low Pay Commission’s consultation, on the effect of a higher minimum wage for non-guaranteed hours in a contract and alternative means for tackling one-sided flexibility, launched in March.
The Low Pay Commission will publish their report, containing the findings from this consultation, in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on consolidating guidance on legislation to protect people who are pregnant or on maternity leave as recommended by the Taylor review of modern working practices.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Last year, Acas published new comprehensive guidance on pregnancy and maternity discrimination and workplace rights and obligations.
This summer we have reviewed the GOV.UK guidance material on the protections for people who are pregnant or on maternity leave and we are now updating and improving signposting.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on identifying a set of metrics to measure the quality of work as recommended by the Matthew Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has received over 400 detailed responses to the four consultations launched in February. We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond. Their insights have been invaluable in informing our policy development. We will be publishing our response to these consultations in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
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 respond to its consultations on (a) employment status, (b) increasing transparency in the labour market, (c) agency workers recommendations and (d) enforcement of employment rights.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has received over 400 detailed responses to the four consultations launched in February. We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond. Their insights have been invaluable in informing our policy development. We will be publishing our response to these consultations in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff were employed by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017 and (d) 2018.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The following information is based on the resourcing of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) for the 31st March in each year:
2015 – 5
2016 – 11
2017 – 11
2018 – 12
The Department continues to review the resourcing needs both in the short term and in the context of wider, longer term reforms including the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices and the strategy of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
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 pages 62 to 65 of the February 2018 of the Government response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, what steps the Government has taken to improve support for self-employed people.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has received over 400 detailed responses to the four consultations launched in February. We are very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond. Their insights have been invaluable in informing our policy development. We will be publishing our response to these consultations in due course.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which projects on business and human rights his Department has funded in each of the last five years; and what the total spend of each such project was in each of those years.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The UK’s National Action Plan to implement the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights sets out a rolling programme of actions requiring both legislative and non-legislative approaches. The Department has funded one project in the last five years. The Department matched funding from the Dutch Government toward the development of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, a private sector-led initiative that ranks some of the world’s largest companies by their human rights policies, processes, and practices. The total spend on this project from UK Government was £60,000 in 2014/15 and £20,000 in 2015/16.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he has plans to publish a summary table on www.gov.uk, with periodic updates, on progress made on (a) the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and (b) additional policy commitments made by his Department on that plan.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department, working together with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and other departments, aims to publish in due course a summary of the actions and progress within the Government’s National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights. Our focus is on implementing the Plan as it stands and there is no intention to review it before 2020. Any future development of the Plan must be informed by wide consultations and the Government welcomes discussions with business and civil society organisations about our approach and the delivery of commitments under the Plan.