Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has conducted international comparisons on the definition of low hours to inform how the threshold for low hours is set and the reference periods used to calculate guaranteed hours for temporary and agency workers.

The definition of the hours threshold and the length and frequency of reference periods will depend on the outcome of the forthcoming consultation on the details of the measures to end exploitative zero hours contracts.

We have considered international examples of employment rights in developing this consultation. Many countries have taken steps to restrict or prohibit zero-hours contracts altogether. For example, New Zealand and Norway have banned their use, while Ireland allows them only in limited circumstances, and both the Netherlands and Finland require employers to offer contracts on equivalent terms to workers who regularly work a consistent shift pattern.