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 the total cost to the public purse was of statutory redundancy payments processed by the Insolvency Service in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The total value of statutory redundancy payments made by the Insolvency service in the 2021 calendar year was £148,379.673 and in 2022 was £148,352,681.
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 statutory redundancy payments were processed by the Insolvency Service in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The number of individuals who received a statutory redundancy payment from the Insolvency Service was 37,830 in the 2021 calendar year and 31,815 in 2022.
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 companies had employees that received redundancy payments from the Insolvency Service in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022; and how many employees received payments in each instance.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
In 2021 there were 181 employers not subject to formal insolvency proceedings with 391 claims; and 4,769 employers subject to formal insolvency proceedings with 37,576 claims where a statutory redundancy payment was made by the Insolvency Service.
In 2022 there were 164 employers not subject to formal insolvency proceedings with 500 claims; and 5,766 employers subject to formal insolvency proceedings with 31,447 claims where a statutory redundancy payment was made by the Insolvency Service.
The names of employers subject to formal insolvency proceedings with more than 10 redundancy payments made are included in the attached tables.
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 her Department has contracted work to a business that has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive within the last three years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Business and Trade, formerly the Department for International Trade has conducted a search of our databases for all contracts over £10k, resulting in a nil return.
We confirm that the former Department for International Trade had not contracted work to a business that has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive within the last three years.
Details of Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
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 employers have notified the Redundancy Payments Service of planned redundancies in the last 12 months.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Employers are required by law to notify the Secretary of State, in practice the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service (RPS),of any proposal to dismiss 20 or more employees as redundant at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less. This advanced notification is normally via the ‘HR1’ form.
For the period 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023, RPS received HR1s from 2,376 employers.
The Insolvency Service publishes figures regarding advanced notification of redundancy at the following link: advanced notification.
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 her Department has contracted work to a business named in round 18 of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme in the last 3 years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
All employers need to pay their staff correctly. Paying the minimum wage is not optional, it’s the law. Under the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme, employers who have previously broken minimum wage law can be publicly named. The Department for Business and Trade follows a clear and thorough process allowing firms to make representations against being named if they meet our published criteria.
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold information about the number of named employers who have a contract with a Government Department. However, government contracts over £10,000 are listed on Contracts Finder: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder. This Department only names employers once HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has concluded its investigations.
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 Table 17 of the EMP17: People in employment on zero hours contracts data released on 14 February 2023, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the increase in the proportion of those on a zero hour contract in temporary work between the October to December period in 2021 and the same period in 2022.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Zero hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, they are useful where there is not a constant demand for staff, allowing flexibility for both employers and individuals – like carers, people studying, or retirees. For this small group, a zero hours contract may be the type of contract which works best for them.
Research from The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that 65% of zero hours contract workers are satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, which is similar to the proportion of employees as a whole (63%) [2015].
The Government is supporting a Private Member’s Bill which will introduce a new right for workers – especially those on zero hours contracts - to request a more predictable working pattern.
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 latest release of data entitled EMP17: People in employment on zero hours contracts, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the proportions of (a) 16-24 year olds and (b) 25-34 year olds in work who are on Zero Hour Contracts.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Zero-hours contracts remain an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, for both employers where there is not a constant demand for staff and for individuals who may need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study.
Individuals on zero hours contracts represent a very small proportion of the workforce – just over 3%. For this small group, a zero-hour contract may be the type of contract which works best for them, providing flexibility to balance work and study with 22% of people on zero-hour contracts are in full-time education compared with 3% of other people in employment.
The Government is supporting a Private Member’s Bill which will introduce a new right for workers – especially those on zero hours contracts - to request a more predictable working pattern. The new right will allow a qualifying worker to make an application to change their existing working pattern if it lacks predictability in terms of the hours they are required to work, or if it is a fixed term contract of less than 12 months.
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 latest data release entitled EMP17: People in employment on zero hours contracts, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the proportion of university students who are working in jobs with zero hours contracts.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Zero-hours contracts remain an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, for both employers where there is not a constant demand for staff and for individuals who may need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study.
Individuals on zero hours contracts represent a very small proportion of the workforce – just over 3%. For this small group, a zero-hour contract may be the type of contract which works best for them, providing flexibility to balance work and study with 22% of people on zero-hour contracts are in full-time education compared with 3% of other people in employment.
The Government is supporting a Private Member’s Bill which will introduce a new right for workers – especially those on zero hours contracts - to request a more predictable working pattern. The new right will allow a qualifying worker to make an application to change their existing working pattern if it lacks predictability in terms of the hours they are required to work, or if it is a fixed term contract of less than 12 months.
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 her Department is taking to address levels of young people and students employed on zero hours contracts.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Zero-hours contracts remain an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, for both employers where there is not a constant demand for staff and for individuals who may need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study.
Individuals on zero hours contracts represent a very small proportion of the workforce – just over 3%. For this small group, a zero-hour contract may be the type of contract which works best for them, providing flexibility to balance work and study with 22% of people on zero-hour contracts are in full-time education compared with 3% of other people in employment.
The Government is supporting a Private Member’s Bill which will introduce a new right for workers – especially those on zero hours contracts - to request a more predictable working pattern. The new right will allow a qualifying worker to make an application to change their existing working pattern if it lacks predictability in terms of the hours they are required to work, or if it is a fixed term contract of less than 12 months.