Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Hayes Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

T5. Participants in multi-level marketing schemes, 75% of whom are women, sign up to the opportunity to earn income flexibly from home, often attracted by outlandish lifestyle claims made on social media. In reality many participants earn no income and many end up in debt. Will the Secretary of State introduce a requirement on MLMs to publish an independently audited annual statement of net average earnings that takes into account the cost of participating as well as income earned, and will he regulate the lifestyle claims made on social media to stop the exploitation of vulnerable people?

[Claire Perry]

The hon. Lady makes an excellent point, and I would be happy to meet her to discuss this. I am thinking back to the days when we used to go out and try to sell goods from various catalogues and I used to collect the money. That was exploitative then, and I suspect that it is exploitative now. Perhaps she and I should meet; I would be happy to discuss the matter.