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1059841

	registered interest
	date	12/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Shipping
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent blacklisting of UK seafarers working in the North Sea oil and gas supply chain.
	tabling member constituency	Gateshead
	tabling member printed	Ian Mearns
	uin	220192
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2019 answer text <p>Blacklisting is completely unacceptable and has no place in modern employment relations. The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 made it unlawful for an individual or organisation to compile, sell or make use of a blacklist of trade union members or those who have taken part in trade union activities.</p><p> </p><p>Any individual or trade union who believes they have been the victim of blacklisting can enforce their rights under the regulations through an employment tribunal or the county court.</p><p> </p><p>The 2010 blacklisting regulations are reinforced by powers in the Data Protection Act 2018, protecting use of personal data, including information on trade union membership and sensitive personal data. The Information Commissioner’s Office regulates use of personal data and investigates breaches of the Data Protection Act 2018. It has the power to take enforcement action, including searching premises, issuing enforcement notices and imposing fines for serious breaches.</p><p> </p><p>The Information Commissioner will shortly open a call for evidence on the implications of modern employment practices in recruitment and selection, and the obligations of employers. If blacklisting is occurring, it should bring it to light. There’s no need to wait for that enquiry to begin however, anyone with evidence should present it to the Information Commissioner’s Office now.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 19/02/2019 16:30:04 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4000 label Biography information for Ian Mearns

1063814

	registered interest
	date	18/02/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Agency Workers: Equal Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his oral contribution of 17 December 2018, Official Report,column 573, when the the repeal of the Swedish Derogation will be implemented.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	uin	222749
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to upholding and extending workers’ rights. We laid the statutory instrument to repeal the Swedish derogation on 17 December 2018 and, subject to parliamentary approval, it will come into force from 6 April 2020.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 27/02/2019 13:28:52 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 103722 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1088446

	registered interest
	date	13/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Wind Power: Continental Shelf
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that UK employment law applies to shipping companies contracted to (a) transport, (b) install, (c) construct and (d) maintain offshore wind farms on the UK Continental Shelf.
	tabling member constituency	Gateshead
	tabling member printed	Ian Mearns
	uin	231987
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2019 answer text <p>Workers on offshore windfarms are entitled to the same protections as UK workers, including National Minimum Wage for all their work on the installation, construction and maintenance of the windfarms regardless of nationality or where they ordinarily work.</p><p> </p><p>Workers on UK registered ships are entitled to National Minimum Wage for all their work on the ship wherever it is located, unless they work entirely outside the UK or are not ordinarily resident in the UK. BEIS and the DfT are working together to increase the scope of National Minimum Wage entitlement from those seafarers in internal waters to those working in the territorial sea, an area that extends up to 12 nautical miles from the mean low-water line.</p><p> </p><p>This Government takes minimum wage enforcement seriously and is committed to ensuring all employers pay their workers correctly. We continue to invest heavily in minimum wage enforcement, increasing the budget to over £26 million for 2018/19, up from £13 million in 2015/16. In addition to following up on every worker complaint received, HMRC undertake proactive investigations and conduct awareness raising activities amongst both employers and workers. Last year, HMRC identified record arrears of £15.6 million, for over 200,000 workers.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 22/03/2019 12:36:24 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 108504 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4000 label Biography information for Ian Mearns

1088683

	registered interest
	date	14/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Wind Power: Seas and Oceans
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of pre-construction agreements between offshore wind farm owners and contractors on employment (a) conditions, (b) practices and (c) levels.
	tabling member constituency	Gateshead
	tabling member printed	Ian Mearns
	uin	232557
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2019 answer text <p>Terms and conditions of employment are for negotiation and agreement between employers and employees (or their representatives). Once agreed they form a legally binding contract of employment. While it is always open to either party to seek to renegotiate the terms of the contract, if the employer changes any of the terms without the employee’s agreement, the employee may be entitled to seek legal redress.</p><p> </p><p>Importantly, workers on offshore windfarms are entitled to the same protections as UK workers, including National Minimum Wage for all their work on the installation, construction and maintenance of the windfarms regardless of nationality or where they ordinarily work.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 22/03/2019 12:31:41 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 108909 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4000 label Biography information for Ian Mearns

1091216

	registered interest
	date	19/03/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Agency Workers: Equal Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his oral contribution of 6 March 2019, Official Report, column 994, on the Swedish derogation, whether he has finished reflecting upon the representations he has received from the trade unions on the timing of the abolition of the Swedish derogation; and what the outcome has been of his reflections.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	uin	234197
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2019 answer text <p>Through the Good Work Plan, published in December 2018, the Government has committed to upgrading workers’ rights and protecting the most vulnerable workers. This represents the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in over 20 years. The Government has considered all representations made to it about the Swedish derogation and is committed to its repeal. Secondary legislation repealing the Swedish Derogation has already been approved by the House of Commons’ Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee on 6 March 2019. Subject to approval from the House of Lords, from April 2020 all agency workers will be entitled to the same pay as permanent staff after 12 weeks in an assignment. This timeframe allows businesses to realign their contractual arrangements, both with their workers and the end hirers.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 26/03/2019 15:10:25 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 109562 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1125349

	registered interest
	date	08/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Living Wage and Minimum Wage: Non-payment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2019 to Question 248059, when the review of the NMW Naming Scheme began; and whether it his policy to suspend naming non-compliant employers until that review has concluded.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	uin	252048
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>As announced in the Government response of December 2018, the review of the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage (NMW) Naming Scheme commenced in response to recommendations made by the Director of Labour Market Enforcement in his 2018/2019 Labour Market Enforcement Strategy. No further naming of employers for NMW breaches will take place until the review has been completed.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 16/05/2019 13:39:20 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 117608 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1130141

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the oral answer of the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility on 4 June 2019, Official Report, column 53, what the evidential basis is for her statement that in 2019, £118 million has been paid back to more than 220,000 workers who were underpaid the minimum wage.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	uin	260711
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>We are committed to taking robust enforcement action to ensure that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum or Living Wage receives it.</p><p> </p><p>We have more than doubled the budget for minimum wage compliance and enforcement since 2015; it is now at a record high of £27.4 million.</p><p> </p><p>To clarify, since 1999, minimum wage arrears worth over £118 million have been paid to 835,000 workers. In the year 2018/19 alone, £24.4m of wage arrears were identified, owed to more than 220,000 workers.</p><p> </p><p>The transcript error within the Official Report has now been corrected.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 13/06/2019 13:05:15 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 121640 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1130150

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Labour Market
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for the public consultation on proposals for a single labour market enforcement body.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	uin	260712
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to creating a labour market that works for everyone. Through the Good Work Plan - the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation - we set out a number of measures to improve state enforcement of core employment rights. In addition to introducing state enforcement of holiday pay for vulnerable workers, we also committed to expand agency worker protections to cover umbrella companies. In light of this expansion of the State’s role, we will consider the case for a single labour market enforcement body, which would bring together the relevant enforcement functions of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, HMRC’s National Minimum Wage team and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate. Proposals will be published in due coursefor public consultation.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 12/06/2019 14:21:51 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1130344

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage: Enforcement
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the (a) underpayment of the national minimum wage by employers, (b) amount of arrears and fines paid by employers for underpayment of the national minimum wage and (c) number of successful prosecutions of employers for underpayment of the national minimum wage for the 2018-19 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	uin	261273
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government is clear that all employers are responsible for paying their staff correctly. Anyone entitled to the Minimum Wage should receive it. We have more than doubled the budget for minimum wage compliance and enforcement since 2015; it is now at a record high of £27.4 million.</p><p> </p><p>Last year was a record year for NMW enforcement. Across the 2018/19 financial year HMRC identified a record £24.4 million in minimum wage arrears, for over 220,000 workers. HMRC completed almost 3,000 investigations; issuing £17 million in financial penalties to over 1,000 non-compliant employers.</p><p> </p><p>Since 2007, 14 employers have been successfully prosecuted for underpaying the Minimum Wage. HMRC issued 7 Labour Market Enforcement Undertakings in the 2018/19 financial year.</p><p> </p><p>This information will be covered in more detail in BEIS’ Minimum Wage Enforcement and Compliance report, which we will publish in due course.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 11/06/2019 15:49:03 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1131347

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Conditions of Employment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260093, on what dates each labour market enforcement undertaking was applied; to which employers such undertakings were applied; and on the basis of what trigger offence in each case.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	uin	263213
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2019 answer text <p>The Immigration Act 2016 introduced the provision for three labour market enforcement bodies to serve labour market enforcement undertakings (LMEU) and orders (LMEO): the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – National Minimum Wage Team (HMRC – NMW).</p><p> </p><p>To date, no prosecution has resulted from breaching a labour market enforcement undertaking or order.</p><p> </p><p>Each enforcement body has a different legal framework for the disclosure of information related to LMEUs. Both EAS and HMRC – NMW cannot disclose the name of the employers or the nature of the offences without informed consent from the employers involved as this would be in breach of their respective customer confidentiality clauses. Section 9 of the Employment Agency Act precludes EAS from publishing the name or details of enforcement action without the permission of the employment business or agencies involved. Section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act (CRCA) 2005 precludes HMRC from disclosing/sharing information about an individual or taxpayer to a third party.</p><p> </p><p>The GLAA routinely discloses the dates and the type of trigger offences for which its LMEUs are served. Whilst the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 does not preclude the GLAA from disclosing the names of the recipients of LMEUs, the GLAA does not deem appropriate to release their identity. Identity disclosure would defeat the purpose of LMEUs which are a voluntary agreement meant to be a proportionate sanction to encourage compliant behaviour from the recipient.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The table below displays the information that could be disclosed by the three enforcement bodies:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Enforcement Body</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of LMEU served</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Date of commencement</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Trigger offence</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>EAS</strong></p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>04/04/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>03/04/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="10"><p><strong>GLAA</strong></p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>20/03/18</p></td><td rowspan="10"><p>All these LMEUs have been issued for trigger offences under section 12 and 13 of the Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 which respectively refer to acting as an unlicensed gangmaster and using labour supplied by an unlicensed gangmaster.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>22/05/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>21/06/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>13/07/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>23/07/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>16/08/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>21/08/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>31/12/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>15/04/19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>26/04/19</p></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="8"><p><strong>HMRC - NMW</strong></p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>19/06/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>27/06/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>21/08/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>05/11/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>22/10/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>30/10/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>16/11/18</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>07/03/19</p></td><td><p>Not disclosed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Total: 28</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst grouped question UIN 263218 question first answered 17/06/2019 09:57:18 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock