Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2026 to Question 9197 and with reference to page 19, paragraph 62 of his Department's impact assessment entitled ZHCs - Right to Guaranteed Hours, published 21 October 2024, if he will publish the sensitivity analysis undertaken when modelling the impacts of the guaranteed hours threshold.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The government has published the 2024 guaranteed hours impact assessment, including the results of the sensitivity analysis referred to in paragraph 62. The impact assessment made clear that many policy details, including eligibility and the process for making offers, would be set in secondary legislation following consultation. To account for this uncertainty, the impact assessment undertook sensitivity analysis in line with the Green Book, varying key assumptions around the potential population in scope and the time employers would take to familiarise with and implement the obligations associated with the right, as well as track hours and formalise guaranteed hours offers.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2026 to Question 9197, and with reference to page 19, paragraph 62 of his Department's impact assessment entitled ZHCs - Right to Guaranteed Hours, published 21 October 2024, what the key assumptions in the sensitivity analysis were.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The 2024 guaranteed hours impact assessment clarifies that many policy details, including eligibility and the process for making offers, would be set in secondary legislation following consultation. To account for this uncertainty, the impact assessment undertook sensitivity analysis in line with the Green Book, varying key assumptions around the potential population in scope and the time employers would take to familiarise with and, implement the obligations associated with the right, as well as track hours and formalise guaranteed hours offers. These assumptions are included within the impact assessment.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2026 to Question 9197, and with reference to his Department's impact assessment entitled ZHCs - Right to Guaranteed Hours, published 21 October 2024, for what policy reason the hours threshold for the right to guaranteed hours is chosen to be between 8 and 20 hours per week.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The government’s preference is for the hours threshold for the right to guaranteed hours to be between 8 and 20 hours per week, on the basis that options in this range are more likely to provide a favourable balance of costs and benefits. A baseline of 8 hours per week mitigates against potential avoidance behaviour of employers moving zero hours workers to contracts with a very low number of hours.

The consultation includes evidence from the Living Wage Foundation which shows that the percentage of workers working above contracted hours decreases with the number of contracted hours, with only around 19% of those with between 16-24 hours guaranteed working more hours than contracted.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2026 to Question 9197, and with reference to his Department's publication entitled Employment Rights Act 2025: economic analysis and enactment summary impact assessment, published 7 January 2026, for what policy reason the hours threshold for the right to guaranteed hours is chosen to be between 8 and 20 hours per week.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The government’s preference is for the hours threshold for the right to guaranteed hours to be between 8 and 20 hours per week, on the basis that options in this range are more likely to provide a favourable balance of costs and benefits. A baseline of 8 hours per week mitigates against potential avoidance behaviour of employers moving zero hours workers to contracts with a very low number of hours.

The consultation includes evidence from the Living Wage Foundation which shows that the percentage of workers working above contracted hours decreases with the number of contracted hours, with only around 19% of those with between 16-24 hours guaranteed working more hours than contracted.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason the Maritime and Coastguard Agency changed the operating model of the Coastguard Rescue Service to an unpaid model rather making changes necessary to reflect the Court of Appeal judgment in Maritime and Coastguard Agency v Martin Groom and bringing volunteers' status into line with that of a worker.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Plans to move the Coastguard Rescue Service to an expenses-only volunteer model in September will not go ahead, and current arrangements will remain in place. We will now take time to gather the robust information required to understand the full operational implications of future decisions, as well as the impact on individual Coastguard Rescue Officers and the choices they will make. This will involve engaging with CROs directly and ensuring that their views inform the decisions that we will take on the shape of the Coastguard Rescue Service.

Found: Shastri-Hurst (Conservative; Solihull West and Shirley) Gareth Snell (Labour; Stoke-on-Trent Central) Michael Wheeler

Found: Smith (Lay member) Gareth Snell (Labour; Stoke-on-Trent Central) Dr David Stirling (Lay member) Michael Wheeler

Sustainable Plastics APPG
Wednesday 26th August 2026

Found: July 2026 Sustainable Plastics APPG AGM Attendees:   Laurence Turner MP Julia Buckley MP Michael Wheeler

Found:

Found: Return Nil Return Nil Return Harpreet Uppal Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Michael Wheeler

Found: Return Nil Return Harpreet Uppal Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Nil Return Michael Wheeler

Found:

Found: LGV restored from today 02 October 2024 ME7 Michael Wheeler

Found: MP as Assistant Whip Rachel Hopkins MP as Assistant Whip Harpreet Uppal MP as Assistant Whip Michael Wheeler

Found: MP as Assistant Whip Rachel Hopkins MP as Assistant Whip Harpreet Uppal MP as Assistant Whip Michael Wheeler