Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Crabb and Barry Sheerman

Monday 11th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I do not want to upset anybody on the Labour Front Bench by showing passion and anger about the Government’s failure to tackle unscrupulous employers who give no guarantee of employment, no contract, no certainty and no pension—nothing but zero-hours contracts, with people being hired from agencies—but when will the Government take on these rotten employers?

[Stephen Crabb]

Zero-hours contracts, of course, form only a very small proportion of the overall jobs in the labour market. The thing that is particularly pernicious about zero-hours contracts is the exclusivity clauses—that has been recognised as widespread—and we are the Government who actually took action to deal with that.