Speeches by Western.

“I am interested in drilling into this because it is an area I am not at all familiar with. Maybe, Mr Carberry, you can help me to understand what sort of notice periods are typical in some of this. You talk about being sector-specific. Could you give some examples of a more extreme sector at each end and what sort of n…”

“Do you think that there might be some merit in the Government looking, rather than at the abstract of whether it be 10 hours, or seven or whatever—it is kind of an odd way to approach it—but at a link between the number of hours at national minimum wage and, say, the cost of living, or what we used to call the breadlin…”

“Yes.”

“Mr Lillis, this is a nebulous kind of thing that we are trying to understand and numbers are almost a very abstract thing, but do you think there is any merit in the Government looking at linking hours, particularly on national minimum wage versus cost of living as a metric so that low hours becomes a relevant number w…”

“Ms Zhu, I am interested in the point about audit that my colleague was asking. Like any brand, you will want to ensure that there is good quality product coming out with the label SHEIN on it. Does the company visit the contracted factories that make SHEIN clothing? Yes, or no?”

“So it is contracted out, very simply?”

“A final question: do you think there are any unintended consequences of the UK adopting a much more robust approach to those businesses using supply chains where there is known to be forced labour present in those factories?”

“It is a staggering number, isn’t it, compared to the number of outlets you have—700 cases?”

“You wrote to us, to the previous Committee, on 30 November 2023 saying that McDonald’s does not have a duty of care to workers within the outlets. Your tone today suggests that you have changed your view about that. To the public, the people working are McDonald’s workers. Are they McDonald’s workers? They wear McDonal…”

“Those working in the franchise restaurants wear the same uniforms do not they?”

“They are McDonald’s workers?”

“I have established that—that is very clear.”

“This contractor that you employ—is it a sole contract with Tesco or do they do contracts for other companies?”

“They are not Tesco employees?”

“It is very clear that you contract that out to an agency to do the checks subsequently to the establishment of the contract. I just want to be absolutely clear that when you set up that contract, it is set up by Tesco Plc staff going to Mae Sot, looking at the factory, looking at the working conditions and so on, and t…”

“You have a duty of care to those who are within your own sites but you do not have a duty of care to those who are not in your sites. So there is a difference between the two in terms of whether they are McDonald’s workers.”

“You have told us that you are determined to fix the problems that we have discussed and you have made certain claims just now saying that you want to establish a secure workplace, that there is no room in your business for these sorts of instances. Why do you not just accept liability, given that the sign across the do…”

“Very briefly, Ms Lorains, when you have a facility, a factory, that you contract to, say, in Mae Sot, when you take on a contract with them to supply particular garments manufactured there, do personnel employed by Tesco Plc, go out there and establish the contract with them and do the checks, and then subsequently do …”

“A question for you, Ms Lyons. This afternoon we have heard about the importance of supply chain and where there is opportunity for exploitation because of how opaque the supply chains are. The proposed Fair Work Agency will be responsible for enforcing the Modern Slavery Act but does not propose any amendments relating…”

“In your view, are we in deficit with our Modern Slavery Act compared to other nations such as the US, or to groups such as the European Union so that we absolutely need to tighten it and make it more comprehensive?”