Equality Bill
11:31 am
Katja Hall: Can I make a general observation on the issue? We dispute that temporary and agency workers are discriminated against. We need to be clear about what we are comparing. Agency workers are not employees of the user company in which they may be placed. Their relationship is with the agency for which they work. They are covered by the vast majority of employment legislation in the United Kingdom—the minimum wage, working-time regulations and health and safety regulations. We now have, of course, consultation on the implementation of the agency workers directive, which will introduce further protections in that area. We do not agree that agency workers or temporary workers are being discriminated against.