Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and HMRC of the number of people currently practicing in the hair and beauty sector using disguised employment practices.

The Department for Business and Trade does not hold this information. However, we are clear that disguised employment practices such as false self-employment are unacceptable. Employers should never seek to deny people their employment rights and avoid their own legal obligations by claiming someone is self-employed when in reality they are not.

The Government is committed to tackling false self-employment and HMRC will investigate evidence suggesting businesses have misclassified individuals for tax purposes. The Government has also set up a forum with the hair and beauty industry to support compliance in the sector.