Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of 27 April 2021, Official Report, column 86WH, on the Government's policy on the inappropriate use by some employers of fire and rehire as a negotiation tactic, what steps their Department has taken to (a) investigate and (b) discourage the use of fire and rehire negotiation tactics by their Department's executive non-departmental public bodies; and what steps they have taken to communicate the Government's policy on those practices to those bodies.

The Government has been clear it expects employers to treat employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership, working with trade unions, where relevant, constructively. This applies to Home Office sponsored NDPBs as much as to any other employer.

Home Office sponsored NDPBs that employ civil servants must set their terms and conditions of employment in accordance with the rules of the Civil Service Management Code. Bodies covered by the Code are expected to communicate novel and contentious workforce proposals to the Cabinet Office as made clear by paragraph 4.