Speeches by Turner.

“During this hearing we have been talking about generalised problems, but they are particularly manifest in local areas, as we have heard. Birmingham was named earlier this year the fifth hardest area of the country to get a driving test. Could you talk through what steps you take to monitor particular hotspot areas, ac…”

“I want to ask about the point that was made by PCS in relation to violence against driving instructors and other forms of abuse and distressing behaviour as a contributor to poor retention. Do you recognise that description? Are you able to monitor these kinds of incidents? What steps are you taking from the employer’s…”

“On 21 November we marked the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings. That date will have been felt most heavily by the families of the 21 people who never came home, and by many more who still carry the mental and physical scars of that day. The Secretary of State knows that the announcement of the repeal of t…”

“If I can check that I have understood correctly, the levels of incidents are now broadly comparable to pre-pandemic levels. Is that correct, or are they higher?”

“Examiners, sorry.”

“I follow my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester and the hon. Member for Torbay, who both made very able speeches. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire, asked about the justification for extending the current time limit from three to six months. One argument is set out in the Law Commission’s 2…”

“I am grateful to the shadow Minister for giving way; he has been generous with his time. On the point about perverse incentives, does he accept that if this group of amendments were in force, it would create a perverse incentive for the creation of umbrella companies and other forms of employment law evasion? If we are…”

“I again draw attention to my declarations in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and my membership of the Unite and GMB trade unions. Does the shadow Minister recognise that the prominent case of the Presidents Club harassment, which was exposed by the Financial Times some years ago, did apply to an employer t…”

“I rise to make two brief points that have not been made in this debate. The first, which is narrow, is that we already have a legal definition of SMEs under the Companies Acts 2006, which defines the upper limit as 249 employees. I acknowledge that the previous Government’s position was to extend to new regulations the…”

“rose—”

“I am grateful to the shadow Minister; I suspect he is setting some kind of record with the number of interventions he is taking. Earlier, he said that there may be alternative measures and protections to mitigate the problem that the Minister is seeking to address, whereby someone has been called to a shift but has arr…”

“I will not keep the Committee long. A lot has rightly been said about the need for certainty for business, but we should remember that the other side of the coin is the need for workers to have certainty. I was contacted recently by a constituent who works a zero-hours contract in the hospitality sector. He is unable t…”

“The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 sets the reference period at 12 weeks. The hon. Gentleman says that 18 months is probably an artificially high number. Does he think that the 12-week reference period, which the previous Government supported just 12 months ago, is in about the right place?”

“My personal view is that they should not be accepted, but the hon. Gentleman surely knows that he should not seek an opinion on the party position from a Back-Bench MP. My second point is on the sectors that would be affected by the amendments. My hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester made an incredibly powerful contri…”

“The Minister spoke about the insecurity that can hang over agency workers, and said that their employment situation does not always represent genuine flexibility. As someone who has been an agency worker, I can certainly identify with what he says. On the point around regulations, does he agree that this is a long-stan…”

“Q I was struck, in the impact assessments, by the statements that a number of the costs, but particularly more the benefits, or potential benefits, of these measures cannot currently be quantified. There are, of course, well-advertised problems with UK labour market statistics at the moment. Realistically, what more co…”

“Q Dr Stephenson, I would like to ask about outsourcing and outsourced workers, an often-overlooked part of the labour market. We know that women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to be outsourced. What is your opinion of the clauses in this Bill in relation to the extension of gender pay gap r…”

“Q I apologise to the panel for returning to an earlier dispute in this quite disjointed way, but just for the record, earlier this week one of our witnesses, Paul Nowak, said: “I do not think there is a direct link; you do not pass a piece of legislation and trade union membership and collective bargaining go up”.––[Of…”

“Q For context in respect of a previous question, the record shows that “re-unionisation of the economy” was language used in a question by the shadow Minister, not in an answer from a witness. The Bill covers part of the “Make Work Pay” agenda. Are there other measures in the “Make Work Pay” document published earlier …”

“Q Minister, over the past two years, we have seen some of the highest levels of industrial action since the 1980s. Could you tell us what effect you think the Bill will have on the conduct of industrial relations? Justin Madders: I hope it will have a positive impact on industrial relations. The way strike action spira…”