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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support contracting and the flexible economy.

Through our Good Work Plan reforms this Government is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation, and working to ensure that the UK labour market strikes the balance between flexibility and worker protections.

We have already taken significant steps to ensure that the UK's flexible economy works for all, We have passed legislation that means almost 300,000 workers, including people on casual or flexible hours contracts, will have a right to a payslip for the first time. This helps workers in the flexible economy to better understand their pay and identify if their employer is not meeting their minimum pay obligations.

We have quadrupled the penalty that Employment Tribunals can use where employers have shown malice, spite or gross oversight. This reform acts as an important deterrent against poor employment practices and is an important measure to protect the rights of those working in our flexible economy.

We have also helped agency workers by abolishing the Swedish Derogation, removing a legal loophole to secure equal pay for up to 120,000 agency workers.