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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals on a new statutory code on the practice of dismissal and re-engagement.

The Government has been absolutely clear that using dismissal and re-engagement as a negotiating tactic is unacceptable, and we expect companies to treat their employees fairly. When the pandemic brought attention to cases of dismissal and re-engagement, we asked Acas to conduct an evidence-gathering exercise to help us better understand the issue. Government then went further and asked Acas to produce new guidance to ensure that employers are clear on their responsibilities. This guidance was published in 2021. We will set out next steps in this policy area in due course.