Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of employment costs on recruitment in the manufacturing sector.

The Government has published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Act, including sectoral assessments: Employment Rights Act 2025: impact assessments - GOV.UK. Our analysis assesses the overall risk to employment as low.

The Government has also published impact assessments for National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage policy (NLW), including sectoral assessments. Evidence to date shows little or no significant impact on employment from past increases to the NLW and NMW.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN), published alongside Autumn Budget 2024, includes analysis of the impacts of employer National Insurance changes.