Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2022 to Question 106439, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for the rise in the number of people recorded as looking for an additional job between (a) April and June and (b) July and September 2022.

Zero-hour contracts provide workers with greater flexibility to adjust their working hours and take on multiple jobs if they wish to do so. The Government introduced a ban on exclusivity clauses for zero-hour contracts in 2015.

We monitor the available data on zero-hours contracts on an on-going basis. According to the ONS published data, the estimate of the number of people on zero-hour contracts looking for an additional job in July – September 2022 is based on a small sample size and should be used with caution. The ONS also caution against comparing consecutive three-month periods when data is not seasonally adjusted.