Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices, published on 11 July 2017, and the Government response to the Taylor review, published on 7 February 2018, how many employers have been prosecuted for abusing interns’ rights, and how many prosecutions are being prepared.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The existing legislation and enforcement are sufficiently robust to ensure that workers undertaking work experience or internships should get the minimum wage to which they are legally entitled. HMRC have contacted over 3,200 employers advertising unpaid internships to ensure they are compliant with the law. Where HMRC come to the view that the arrangements constitute “work” under National Minimum Wage regulations, they will require the employer to pay any arrears to the worker, in addition to penalties of up to 200% of the arrears.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take following the statement by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 15 June that the UK's existing and prospective laws on unions and strikes must conform with the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, and that His Majesty's Government was (1) invited to seek ILO technical assistance, and (2) requested to report progress by September, in addition to seeking more consultation with unions and employers.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government believes that our trade union law complies with international conventions, including those of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Workers in the UK have the right to join a union and organise, this is rightly protected by law. They also have the ability to strike should they wish to. The Government believes however that taking strike action has to be balanced with the rights of others, including employers and members of the public.
We will consider the findings of the ILO report carefully and respond in due course.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the impact assessment for the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill should be revised to consider fully the potential consequences of spontaneous solidarity for workers when they are perceived to have been treated unfairly, in light of the response to the temporary suspension of Gary Lineker by the BBC.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The published impact assessment, as noted by the Regulatory Policy Committee, includes an in-depth discussion of the potential risks to the policy of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. The Government therefore does not believe that it is necessary to change the impact assessment in this respect.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Callanan on 21 February (HL Deb col 1562) that “The key sectors specified in the [Strikes (Minimum Service Levels)] Bill are broadly the same set that were defined as important public services in the Trade Union Act 2016”, why they are changing the category “Education of those aged under 17”, as in the 2016 Act, to the broader definition found in the Bill of “Education services”.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The sectors in the Strikes Bill broadly stem from the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, as amended by the Trade Union Act 2016, as they have long been recognised as important for society to function effectively.
Strike action in education services has the potential for far reaching consequences for members of the public, for example children and young people who can be denied access to vital learning if education services strike.
It is only right that these services, which the public pay for and expect to be there when they need them, are included in the Bill.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times (1) the Prime Minister, (2) the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and (3) the Secretary of State for Business and Trade have each met (a) the General Secretary of the TUC, and (b) the Director-General of the CBI, since 1 January.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available here: former Department for International Trade, HM Treasury, Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of days lost in strike action per 1,000 workers in each of the last five years in (1) the UK, (2) France, (3) Spain, and (4) Italy; and what assessment they have made of the comparison between the UK and those countries in respect of those figures.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the UK show that in the 7 months to December 2022, there were 2,472,000 working days lost from striking workers. This is the highest for a seven-month period since June to December 1990 (when 3,837,000 working days were lost).
The Government does not believe that direct comparisons with other European countries are particularly helpful because of the different administrative and legal frameworks governing industrial action. It remains the case that, while the exact arrangements vary, the other countries mentioned in the question have had minimum service levels in place for a variety of services for many years.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Prime Minister’s comments on the 11 January (HC Deb col 553) that minimum service levels during strike action “should not be controversial” as they are present in France, Italy and Spain, what assessment they have made of those countries’ provision of powers to remove protection from unfair dismissal for public sector workers on strike.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill outlines appropriate enforcement mechanisms to maximise the assurance that Minimum Service Levels (MSLs) will be achieved on strike days where they are applied, whilst also ensuring that these mechanisms are consistent with existing trade union legislation.
Asked by: Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks made by Lord Benyon on 28 February (HL Deb col 205) in which he stated “Defra’s default approach will be to retain EU law unless there is a good reason either to repeal or to reform it”, whether they will apply the same approach to employment rights, including transfers of undertakings, equal pay, paid holidays, unsafe working hours, maternity and parental leave, redundancy consultation, agency and part-time workers’ rights, and other protections.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are proud of the UK’s record on labour standards, having raised domestic standards over recent years to make them some of the highest in the world.
In leaving the EU we regained the ability to regulate autonomously, and the government is therefore conducting a comprehensive review of all retained EU employment law to ensure that our regulations are tailored to the needs of the UK economy and help create the conditions for economic growth.