Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill

I am grateful to you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Many of us will have been slightly surprised to see so many people here ardently and enthusiastically supporting the Bill, but not one of them seeking to rise in order to speak in support of it. Moreover, the House will have wanted me to speak now to ensure that the Minister has a chance to say what he thinks about the Bill, because we know clearly from what has been said elsewhere that while it has much support on the Back Benches, it is fundamentally opposed by the Government. The Opposition oppose the Bill because it is unnecessary and misguided. In March 2006, the Government published a consultation paper entitled ““Success at Work. Protecting vulnerable workers, supporting good employers””. In it the Government commented on agency workers as follows:"““Having reviewed the evidence provided in responses to the consultation and taken account of action already undertaken since 1997, we believe changes to the legal framework would not prevent instances of abuse or lack of awareness. It could, however, damage labour market flexibility and result in the reduction in overall employment. We have concluded that the present legal framework reflects the wide diversity of working arrangements and the different levels of responsibility and rights in different employment relationships. The Government believes that it meets the labour market's current needs and there is no need for further legislation in this area.””" That statement was made because, as was noted, a balance between temporary and agency workers' rights and the employer's business needs had been struck. Temporary employment provides flexibility to employers and thus benefits businesses. Temporary agency workers benefit from many of the minimum rights introduced since 1997. They are covered by the minimum wage, working time legislation, and health and safety and social security provisions, such as maternity and sick pay. Legislation has already been changed to ensure that part-time workers have the same rights in relation to pay, access to pensions and bonuses. They are also protected from discrimination. As for the workers' opinions, according to YouGov, 53 per cent. of temporary workers felt that they were treated fairly by their agency and 24 per cent. neither agreed no disagreed. The business position was also broadly in agreement. The Engineering Employers Federation said:"““UK manufacturing competes successfully in a global market. Part of the reason for this success is the UK's comparatively flexible labour market. A vital element of that flexibility is the agency workers market which enables companies to respond to fluctuations in demand as they occur.””" It would seem that the situation was broadly satisfactory to Government, to business and to most of the workers concerned—that is, until the EU brought out yet another proposal, which aims yet again to level down employment legislation to the lowest common denominator. The Conservative party has consistently supported the Government in resisting the European Council draft directive on agency workers since May 2000. During the discussions in the Council on 5 December 2007, the Portuguese presidency suggested that the temporary workers directive should be discussed together with the proposals to amend the working time directive 2003/88/EC, which would prohibit the UK's opt-out to the general limit of 48 hours on the working week. I shall not discuss this in detail today, but it would clearly have serious implications in the UK. Instead, I quote from an article in the Financial Times, dated November 2007, which reported on the run-up to the December 2007 meeting of the European Council. It stated:"““The government is adamantly opposed to any such deal, backing employers' concerns that the temporary workers measure would damage the UK's flexible labour market. 'Our position hasn't changed…we don't think the temporary workers measure as it stands strikes the right balance,' the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said.””" But now, out of the blue, it would seem that the Government are to create an independent commission to consider the rights of agency and temporary workers. Can the Minister explain to the House where that proposal came from and why? Whenever the Government wish to indulge their passion for dithering and sitting on the fence, they launch another commission. In this case, they want to say yes to the unions and their Back Benchers, but dare not for fear of upsetting business; but they also want to say yes to business, but dare not for fear of upsetting the unions and their Back Benchers.