Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the economy of reducing the working week to 32 hours.

A shorter week can create practical challenges in treating all parts of the organisation fairly, and may even limit some employees’ flexibility. While there is evidence that a shorter working week can lead to higher productivity, the extent to which this would offset lost output from reduced hours is unclear.