Business Update

Wednesday 9th May 2018 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Andrew Griffiths)]

Under section 2 of the Immigration Act 2016 the Director of Labour Market Enforcement is required to prepare an annual strategy which, once approved, must be laid before Parliament.

The Director of Labour Market Enforcement is a statutory appointment under the Immigration Act 2016. The Director is responsible for setting the strategic priorities of the three existing enforcement agencies. These are the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Enforcement team.

Professor Sir David Metcalf CBE was appointed as the Director on 1 January 2017. Sir David’s introductory independent labour market enforcement strategy was published in July 2017 and today this second strategy is being published. This strategy provides a valuable assessment of the existing scale of labour exploitation and makes 37 recommendations on labour market enforcement and raising awareness of employment rights.

There is significant crossover and alignment between this strategy and the Government’s response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices and subsequent consultations. The Government will publish a response to the Director of Labour Market Enforcement’s strategy later this year, once the consultations have closed and the Government have considered the responses.

The Government’s Good Work plan is a vital part of the industrial strategy, the long-term plan to build a Britain fit for the future by helping businesses create better, higher-paying jobs in every part of the UK.



I would like to place on record my thanks to Sir David and his team for the hard work that has gone into this second strategy.

Copies of the strategy have been laid before both Houses.

[HCWS670]