Good Work Plan

Peter Kyle Excerpts

Monday 17th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

It would obviously not be appropriate for me to comment on that particular case at the Dispatch Box without making myself more familiar with it, but I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman, or for one of my colleagues to do so. More generally, the treatment of workers and pensioners in respect of companies in trouble is subject to a separate set of reforms that the Government are introducing. I would be happy to take the hon. Gentleman through them when we meet.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, and I thank Matthew Taylor for the work that went into his report, because it was a really fantastic piece of work.

Throughout the course of our inquiries, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee heard some really horrific studies of what is happening in the modern workplace. Many of those practices will be outlawed by the proposals in the White Paper and what has been announced today, if it is all implemented in the right way, and I congratulate the Secretary of State on that. He said in his statement that the Government will

“make it easier for employees to have their voice heard in the workplace.”

That is a far cry from having workers on boards, as the Prime Minister announced some years back. Why is there not a more ambitious and clearer plan to include workers’ voices that would give them the voice that the Prime Minister herself said they would get a few years ago?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to commend Matthew Taylor on the quality of his work and the recommendations. On workforce participation, he will know from his work on the Select Committee that we have introduced reforms that give workers a voice in the boardroom, whether through a dedicated elected director, through a non-executive director who is appointed with particular responsibility to provide an outlet for the workforce, or through the establishment of a council that can take workforce opinions. The further expansion of consultation included in the plan is another reinforcement of the fact that the more workers are involved in the affairs of their employers, the better it is for productivity.