Thailand: Conditions of Employment

(asked on 19th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to recent reports on the working conditions of Burmese workers producing F&F jeans for Tesco in Thailand, whether he has had discussions with his Thai counterpart on the (a) working conditions and (b) rights of garment workers in that country.


Answered by
Andrew Mitchell Portrait
Andrew Mitchell
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
This question was answered on 13th January 2023

The UK Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights. In 2015, we introduced the Modern Slavery Act, which requires businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement stating the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

The Government expects companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress. This enables consumers, shareholders and civil society to scrutinise the efforts being made. The Foreign Secretary has not discussed labour conditions or the rights of garment workers in Thailand with his counterpart in Thailand.

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