Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with her African counterparts on support for the International Labour Organisation convention to end violence and harassment in the world of work.

The Government supports the adoption of an ILO Convention on ending violence and harassment in the world of work. The Government is fully engaged in discussions in the ILO on the scope and content of the proposed Convention and as part of that is in regular contact with other states on this issue. The text of the Convention under negotiation includes informal workers and, if universally ratified, would apply to the world’s poorest workers. The Government’s position on the definitions and scope of the Convention is that it should provide broad coverage, whilst being ratifiable by as large a number of the ILO’s membership as possible.