Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill

My hon. Friend is right that one of the beauties of working for an agency is not only that it allows people to have a job that they can fit around their other commitments; it also means that, if they find somewhere to work that does not suit them and they have a clash with the people who employ them or something along those lines, they can easily move on to another employer, and someone else can take that job. People do not take these jobs for very long as a general rule. My hon. Friend is entirely right in what he said. Around 2 to 3 per cent. of all workers are employed on an agency temporary contract. Earlier, we heard that only about 6 per cent. of people are on a temporary contract. Therefore, this is not a big part of the work force. It is a rather small part of our general work force. Nevertheless, it is incredibly important. These people work in a way that suits both the workers and businesses. Figures show that up to half of agency workers are not even seeking a permanent job. The industry surveys show that 52 per cent. of agency workers choose temping for positive reasons. They are making a conscious decision to work in that way. Sometimes, they do that because they get better pay working for an agency, or to gain valuable work experience. Twenty per cent. of people use temporary work as a route into a permanent job. Therefore, for lots of people, it is a foothold into a permanent job. If we were to take away that particular avenue, those people may not end up with a permanent job in the long run and benefit from any of the rights that the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston wishes them to have. Given the global competitive market in which we work, agency work is needed now more than ever. Given that we have had extensions to holiday entitlement, to maternity leave and to paternity leave, it is crucial that it is as easy as possible for businesses to take on temporary workers. If the Labour party wishes to impose all these benefits on people who are permanent workers, it has to acknowledge that someone has to fill in the gaps. That is where temporary workers are crucial. We must protect temporary agency workers, not clobber them. Equal pay cannot always be justified, as I discussed with my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire. There is a wide variation in pay in the temporary agency market. Many agency temps get a higher rate of pay than they would get in permanent roles. My hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley gave the example of nurses. He is absolutely right, and the same point applies to teachers. Supply teachers employed on a daily basis often get a higher rate of pay than they would if they worked permanently. The arrangement suits everybody. It suits the teachers concerned, because they might have other commitments. They get paid more because they are available at short notice, thereby enabling them to meet the possible needs of a school or, in the case of nursing temps, a hospital. We do not want such workers not to be available at short notice when people in our schools and hospitals need them. People in accountancy also often work on a temporary basis when, for example, tax return deadlines are approaching, and one of the biggest sectors for temporary staff—in which people actually choose to be temporary staff—is IT, particularly skilled IT. People with expertise in a particular field are brought in for short periods and are very well remunerated for doing so. The idea that people on temporary working contracts are all exploited horribly by mean and nasty employers could not be further from the truth in many cases. The British Retail Consortium has said that in order to be fair, if such legislation is enacted—it is an ““if””, and the BRC is clearly against it—the qualifying period before equal treatment is to be considered is crucial. It seems that those who support the Bill do not want any qualifying period whatsoever. The Government have mentioned, I think, a period of six months, but the BRC believes that 12 months would be required. That would bring everybody in line with other, related employment rights such as protection against unfair dismissal; at the moment, somebody has to work for a year before they are entitled to such protection. If we are to go down this route, we must surely have a qualifying period, and it must be the same as for other kinds of employment. Too short a qualifying period would price some temporary workers out of the market, particularly the most vulnerable ones who are trying to seek a way back into the employment market after unemployment or a way into it for the first time. It should be pointed out that EU states such as Germany adopt a similar approach, while others pay agency temps at a special trainee rate. Such options might be considered if the Government end up going down this line and giving in to their Back Benchers. It is therefore clear that the British Retail Consortium is wholly opposed to the Bill. I should point out to Labour Members that its member organisations employ an awful lot of people in this country, such as those working in supermarkets. It therefore speaks on behalf of a great many employers, who employ a large number of people. It is important that we examine the labour market outlook surveys of employers. Employers were asked about the EU agency workers directive, which is the forerunner to this Bill. It is interesting to note the attitude of different employers when considering the issue. It has to be said that speculation is rife that some form of agreement on this directive will emerge during the French presidency, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden indicated. The wish is to impose burdens on our businesses to help us become less competitive in relation to them. I want to spend a little time examining employers' reactions to the Bill in surveys of the labour market outlook. Let me make it abundantly clear that UK employers' reliance on agency workers is very high. In one survey, 76 per cent. of organisations that took part reported that they make some use of agency staff. Although few people might be employed on temporary contracts, a lot of businesses and organisations in this country depend on temporary workers. As I mentioned in an intervention, dependence is particularly high in manufacturing, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) made clear, in public services. The incidence is much lower in Wales at 67 per cent., Scotland at 62 per cent. and Northern Ireland at only 53 per cent. than in England, where more than 70 per cent., and in some parts of England more than 80 per cent., use temporary staff. In parts of the south-east in particular, it can be very difficult to recruit staff with the right skills. It is therefore crucial to have a ready-made pool of talent to use while trying to recruit permanent staff. Those employed on a temporary basis might move into a permanent job in the long run if they prove themselves.