Tesco: Clothing

(asked on 20th December 2022) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with Tesco on the pay and conditions of workers in Burma who produce clothing for its F&F brand.


Answered by
Kevin Hollinrake Portrait
Kevin Hollinrake
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This question was answered on 12th January 2023

No discussions have taken place on this matter.

The UK has consistently supported the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on business and human rights, which are widely regarded as the authoritative international framework to steer practical action by Governments and businesses worldwide on this important agenda. Implementation of the UNGPs supports access to justice and remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuses, wherever these occur, and encourages businesses to voluntarily adopt due diligence approaches to respecting human rights.

The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UNGPs. In 2015 we introduced the Modern Slavery Act which requires businesses with a turnover of £36m 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.

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