Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment has been made of the number of people employed in contracts without guaranteed hours who have been refused credit because of their employment.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has published its Impact Assessments for the Bill. Without guaranteed hours, workers are without certainty as to their earnings, making it difficult to apply for credit or a mortgage. The new right to guaranteed hours aims to ensure that all jobs provide a baseline of security and predictability - making it easier for qualifying workers to plan their lives and finances.
Consumer credit firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must follow the FCA’s detailed rules on affordability checks. FCA rules mean that firms should only lend to consumers who can afford repayments and this should be based on a careful assessment of their income, spending, and financial commitments. These rules aim to prevent over-indebtedness, promote responsible lending, and ensure fair treatment of customers.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to protect university workers' terms and conditions when they are transferred to a subsidiary company.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
When a business changes its owner, its employees may be protected under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE). TUPE may also apply when a service transfers to a new provider. If TUPE applies, the employees’ jobs usually transfer over to the new company, and their employment terms and conditions transfer. The new employer cannot change an employee’s terms and conditions if the reason is the transfer itself.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether any ministerial redundancy payments have been repaid to her Department since 2019.
Answered by Alan Mak
It has not proved possible to respond to the Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made a recent assessment of the use of compensatory uplifts by Employment Tribunals.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
Under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, Employment Tribunals have the power to increase an employee’s compensation by up to 25% if an employer unreasonably fails to comply with a relevant Code of Practice.
The use of compensatory uplift by Employment Tribunals is a matter of judicial discretion based on the facts of each case.
Data on the use of compensatory uplifts by Employment Tribunals is not collected.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when her Department plans to bring forward regulations to implement the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023; and whether she plans to hold discussions with businesses that (a) supply and (b) use agency workers before doing so.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
The Government is planning to bring the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 into force in Autumn 2024. We will hold discussions with businesses about the regulations, as part of our regular stakeholder engagement.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's publication entitled BEIS: ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel, meetings, January to March 2023, published on 20 July 2023, what was spent on (a) flights and (b) accommodation during the Minister of State for Industry's visit to San Francisco on 7 to 11 February 2023.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The total cost of flights and accommodation for the Minister of State for Industry's visit to San Francisco from 7 to 11 February 2023 is included within the "BEIS ministerial travel, January to March 2023" transparency data published on GOV.UK.
The total cost of flights and accommodation for the Minister for Investment's visit to San Francisco from 10 to 14 January 2023 is included within the "DIT Ministers' Overseas Travel: January to February 2023" transparency data published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's publication entitled DIT ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, published 20 July 2023, what was spent on (a) flights and (b) accommodation during the Minister of State for Investment's visit to San Francisco on 10 to 14 January 2023.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The total cost of flights and accommodation for the Minister of State for Industry's visit to San Francisco from 7 to 11 February 2023 is included within the "BEIS ministerial travel, January to March 2023" transparency data published on GOV.UK.
The total cost of flights and accommodation for the Minister for Investment's visit to San Francisco from 10 to 14 January 2023 is included within the "DIT Ministers' Overseas Travel: January to February 2023" transparency data published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to round 19 of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme, published in June 2023, how many and what proportion of the named employers have now paid arrears to people who were paid less than the minimum wage.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
The Government only names once HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has finished its investigations and once employers have repaid arrears to workers and paid the penalty to government.
Where there has been an underpayment, HMRC will instruct the employer to pay workers the arrears owed, and a penalty of up to 200% of arrears. In 2021/22, HMRC concluded over 2,800 minimum wage investigations and returned more than £16.3m in arrears to over 120,000 workers. HMRC issued 696 fines totalling £13.2m to businesses who had failed to pay the minimum wage.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of employers that were included on a National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme list published since January 2011 have not paid arrears to affected employees.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
The Government only names once HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has finished its investigations and once employers have repaid arrears to workers and paid the penalty to government.
Where there has been an underpayment, HMRC will instruct the employer to pay workers the arrears owed, and a penalty of up to 200% of arrears. In 2021/22, HMRC concluded over 2,800 minimum wage investigations and returned more than £16.3m in arrears to over 120,000 workers. HMRC issued 696 fines totalling £13.2m to businesses who had failed to pay the minimum wage.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 22 May 2023 to Question 184678 on Conditions of Employment: EU Law, how many hon. Members contacted her on that matter.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost and would fall above the £850 cost threshold to retrieve this information.