Fiona O'Donnell
Main Page: Fiona O'Donnell (Labour - East Lothian)Department Debates - View all Fiona O'Donnell's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 4 months ago)
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Vince Cable
My hon. Friend rightly says that certain groups of workers find these contracts advantageous, the main ones being workers who have passed retirement age and wish to do optional, flexible work, and students, for whom the lack of an obligation to turn up at a fixed time for a fixed period is compatible with their studies.
Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)
Will the Secretary of State clear up the confusion he created during the last debate on this issue in the Chamber and confirm that workers on jobseeker’s allowance who turn down a zero-hours contract job will not face sanctions?
Vince Cable
They will not face sanctions. I hope that that clarifies the matter.
Michael Fallon
I am afraid that my hon. Friend will have to be patient for a few weeks longer before we announce the local growth deal for the local enterprise partnership covering her constituency, but I am aware that that is one of the projects that the local enterprise partnership wants to prioritise.
Fiona O’Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)
T6. When the Prime Minister returned from the G7, he painted a very positive picture of progress in establishing public registers of beneficial ownership in the overseas territories and Crown dependencies, but the real picture is that only half of them have started or concluded their consultations. This is an opportunity for the Secretary of State to show off his leadership skills, so what work is he doing with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to make some real progress on this issue?
Vince Cable
We will have an opportunity to discuss this in detail, because an open register of beneficial ownership will be one of the elements in the small business Bill. Britain will pioneer work in this area. Of course there are issues with our offshore territories. We are not a colonial power that can send in gunboats to solve these problems; we rely on persuasion, and that is what we will do.