Employment: Zero-hour Contracts Debate

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Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts

Main Page: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)

Employment: Zero-hour Contracts

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts Excerpts
Wednesday 23rd October 2013

(11 years ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts Portrait Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Con)
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My Lords, while I am sure that there have been some abuses of zero-hours contracts, perhaps I may ask my noble friend to keep the matter in perspective. The register of interests of your Lordships’ House reveals that I am the director of a brewery and a pub company. Our pub company staff find most welcome indeed the economic flexibility and freedom that zero-hours contracts give them.

Viscount Younger of Leckie Portrait Viscount Younger of Leckie
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My noble friend makes a valuable point. Opportunities for zero-hours contracts allow, for example, students to enter the labour market. I have heard about instances of workers who used to work on the Tornado project using their legacy engineering skills in just such a way. They were particularly happy to do that. Also, zero-hours contracts particularly help the partially retired, who can work in a scaled-back manner.