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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of restricting non-compete clauses on (a) labour market mobility, (b) innovation and (c) business investment in staff training.

The evidence is clear that non-compete clauses deter labour mobility, which can lead to reduced wage growth and lower business creation. Around 5 million employees are subject to a non-compete clause in Great Britain with a typical duration of around 6 months. The government will legislate to make sure that non-compete clauses will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most innovative and promising startups and scaling firms.

The Competition and Markets Authority found non-compete clauses were associated with slightly more formal on-the-job training, but not with other types of training, suggesting that not all non-compete clauses are protecting substantial training investments.