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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on trends in the number of people moving from full-time to part-time working.

ONS data shows fewer people working part time (7.9 million, 24% of all in employment) in the three months to January 2021, than in the three months to February 2020 (8.6 million, 26% of all in employment), prior to the covid-19 outbreak. Further information on full-time and part-time working can be found on the ONS website:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/march2021.

ONS note: Rates published from the LFS remain robust; however, levels and changes in levels should be used with caution. This will particularly affect estimates for country of birth, nationality, ethnicity and disability.