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 plans to revoke any regulations on employment rights following the passage of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill allows the United Kingdom to take the next step in reasserting the sovereignty of Parliament. It will end the special status of retained EU law in the UK statute book and ensures that, for the first time in a generation, the UK’s statute book will not recognise the supremacy of EU law or EU legal principles. The UK has one of the best workers’ rights records in the world and our high standards were never dependent on our membership of the EU. The Government has been conducting a comprehensive review of all retained EU law to ensure that our regulations are tailored to the needs of the UK economy, and is consulting on several regulations where we see opportunities for improvements, while not impacting workers’ rights, the consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/retained-eu-employment-law-reforms
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 Oral contribution on 11 May 2023, Official Report, in response to the Urgent Question on the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, if she will publish the details of the correspondence she has received from hon. Members on that Bill on that matter.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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 the Written Statement of 10 May 2023, HCWS764 on Regulatory Reform Update, what steps she plans to take to improve employment law.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
We have identified several regulations where we see opportunities for improvements following our exit from the EU, including the Working Time Regulations and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment), or ‘TUPE’, Regulations.
We will reduce time-consuming reporting requirements under the Working Time Regulations, which could save employers around £1bn a year. We are also simplifying annual leave and holiday pay calculations in the Working Time Regulations, and streamlining regulations that apply when a business transfers to a new owner.
These proposals do not seek to remove rights, but instead remove unnecessary bureaucracy in the way those rights operate, allowing business to benefit from the additional freedoms we have through Brexit.
The consultation on these proposals can be found here.
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 the Written Statement of 10 May 2023, HCWS764 on Regulatory Reform Update, who she plans to consult on proposed changes to employment law.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Government has launched a consultation on three areas of retained EU employment law to ensure that they are tailored to the needs of the UK economy while ensuring that workers’ rights continue to be protected. The consultation is available on GOV.UK, and will run until 7 July 2023. The three areas we are consulting on are:
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, which regulations will not be subject to the sunset clause within the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The scope of the sunset is defined in clause one and it covers ‘EU-derived domestic subordinate legislation’ and ‘retained direct EU legislation’.
Primary legislation will not sunset.
Clause 1 also contains the preservation power. This allows the UK Government and devolved governments to preserve specific pieces of retained EU law that would otherwise be subject to the sunset.
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, if she will publish the guidance her Department uses for diversity network events which require checks on external speakers prior to inviting them to participate in Civil Service events.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Business and Trade has internal guidance that requests staff networks carry out due diligence on external speakers invited to speak at Civil Service events that they are hosting. It is imperative that we retain impartiality across the Civil Service, avoiding any politicised events or groups impacting on the working life of civil servants and distracting from the work delivered on Diversity and Inclusion. Our due diligence guidance is detailed on the approval form which networks must complete prior to inviting external speakers to their events.
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 the first list of employers who have not paid employment tribunal awards within a reasonable time will be published under the employment tribunal naming scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Workers should receive the money they are owed. We are committed to ensuring this happens and that they are protected from exploitation.
The Department offers the Employment Tribunal Unpaid Award Penalties Scheme as a free way for parties to incentivise prompt payment for their awards. The scheme operates as part of a wider system of enforcement options such as the Fast Track scheme in England & Wales and the civil courts.
Data held on Employment Tribunal Penalties is derived from a live case management system used for internal purposes which has not been subject to sufficient validation that would be required for us to be confident in releasing this to Parliament at this time.
We will consider what data we may be able to publish on this subject in the future as we recognise the importance of transparency in this area.
The Government is also currently reviewing at what point it is appropriate to start to use the powers that we have to name employers who do not pay relevant awards.
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, if she will make an estimate of the (a) number and (b) cost of penalties placed on employers for failure to pay an employment tribunal award in each year since 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Workers should receive the money they are owed. We are committed to ensuring this happens and that they are protected from exploitation.
The Department offers the Employment Tribunal Unpaid Award Penalties Scheme as a free way for parties to incentivise prompt payment for their awards. The scheme operates as part of a wider system of enforcement options such as the Fast Track scheme in England & Wales and the civil courts.
Data held on Employment Tribunal Penalties is derived from a live case management system used for internal purposes which has not been subject to sufficient validation that would be required for us to be confident in releasing this to Parliament at this time.
We will consider what data we may be able to publish on this subject in the future as we recognise the importance of transparency in this area.
The Government is also currently reviewing at what point it is appropriate to start to use the powers that we have to name employers who do not pay relevant awards.
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 she is taking to help increase the level of timely payment of employment tribunal awards.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Workers should receive the money they are owed. We are committed to ensuring this happens and that they are protected from exploitation.
The Department offers the Employment Tribunal Unpaid Award Penalties Scheme as a free way for parties to incentivise prompt payment for their awards. The scheme operates as part of a wider system of enforcement options such as the Fast Track scheme in England & Wales and the civil courts.
Data held on Employment Tribunal Penalties is derived from a live case management system used for internal purposes which has not been subject to sufficient validation that would be required for us to be confident in releasing this to Parliament at this time.
We will consider what data we may be able to publish on this subject in the future as we recognise the importance of transparency in this area.
The Government is also currently reviewing at what point it is appropriate to start to use the powers that we have to name employers who do not pay relevant awards.
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 8 March 2023 to Question 153826 on Redundancy Pay: Insolvency Service, of the 5,766 employers subject to formal insolvency proceedings in 2022, in how many cases were the company directors involved subject to (a) personal bankruptcy proceedings and (b) director-disqualification notices.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Insolvency Service does not hold this information.