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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of pre-construction agreements between offshore wind farm owners and contractors on employment (a) conditions, (b) practices and (c) levels.

Terms and conditions of employment are for negotiation and agreement between employers and employees (or their representatives). Once agreed they form a legally binding contract of employment. While it is always open to either party to seek to renegotiate the terms of the contract, if the employer changes any of the terms without the employee’s agreement, the employee may be entitled to seek legal redress.

Importantly, workers on offshore windfarms are entitled to the same protections as UK workers, including National Minimum Wage for all their work on the installation, construction and maintenance of the windfarms regardless of nationality or where they ordinarily work.