I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool South (Scott Benton) for proposing this important Bill, and I thank all hon. Members who have spoken on this subject. I am pleased to say that the Government support the Bill and are committed to ensuring that the UK is the best place in the world to start and scale a business—a phrase hon. Members will hear a lot more, after the Business Secretary’s recent speech from Davos about scale-up Britain, which is music to my ears. To do that, we need a strong and flexible labour market that supports participation and economic growth.
I would like to take a little time to talk about the Bill before addressing some points raised by hon. Members on both sides of the House. It is good to see cross-party support, for the third time today. Unlike the shadow Minister, we believe that zero-hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, both for employers that do not have a constant demand for staff and for individuals who need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study. Around 1 million individuals are on zero-hours contracts—around 3% of the UK workforce.
The Government are keen to ensure that everybody can enjoy the benefits of flexible working. We are determined to tackle unfair working practices, such as the issue of one-sided flexibility where workers have to be available to their employer, with no guarantee of work. Employers may schedule or cancel shifts with little notice, leading to insecurity of work and income. I declare my interest, because my daughters are in a similar situation—one is of school age and works at the local pub, and that has happened to her. To be fair, a zero-hours contract works for her to provide flexibility from her side, too.
We recognise that receiving unpredictable and varying levels of income each month can make it difficult for some workers to meet the cost of rent, mortgage and
household bills, especially during a cost of living crisis. My hon. Friend’s Bill will allow workers to request more predictable working arrangements, addressing the issue of one-sided flexibility, while ensuring that workers are able to continue working on a zero-hours contract or another form of non-guaranteed hours or temporary contract, if that is the type of arrangement that works best for them.