What assessment he has made of the contribution of temporary and agency workers to the economy.

Agency and temporary work is a relatively small but important part of our labour market, providing additional choices over working patterns for many workers. Companies have made clear to Ministers the importance that they attach to the flexibility that agency workers can often provide in handling peaks and troughs in work load. That flexibility can help to create extra jobs and provides a significant opportunity for people on benefits, in particular, to re-enter the labour market.

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer, but why does he not admit that the British Government are blocking measures on this in the European Union? We can agree that temporary work provides flexible work options, helps people into permanent jobs and provides opportunities for the young, the over-55s and ethnic minorities, but the question is whether he has the guts to take on the Luddite, red-flag-singing comrades on his own Benches who argue otherwise.

The hon. Gentleman should not tempt me on those issues. I must say that I am not sure that I would get beyond the first line of the "Red Flag" myself. [ Interruption. ] I thank my hon. Friends for a bit of prompting from the back, but I think that I will resist the temptation to join in the singing.

On the agency workers directive, we have always accepted that abuses take place in relation to the employment of agency workers, and we want to deal with those, particularly in the context of "permatemps", who are taken on almost as full-time workers but not given the same access to the employer's terms and conditions as full-time staff. That is a genuine issue that should concern all Members of this House. However, we have not been able to agree the text of the current directive because it is not right for the United Kingdom. The hon. Gentleman asked me to acknowledge that, and I am happy to do so. The directive needs to be changed to provide greater flexibility for the UK, and that is what we are determined to achieve.

I am one of those red-flag-singing comrades, and if the House would like a rendition now, I will do my best.

On a serious note, one of my relatives was recently badly exploited by so-called agencies operating in the construction industry who, in my opinion, are nothing more than gangmasters operating under another name. Will my right hon. Friend do his best to root out those poor agencies, which are giving all the reputable agencies an extremely bad name?

I am happy to ensure that the existing legislation is properly enforced, as it must be—that is why we have doubled the number of inspectors going in to support the regulation of employment agencies. A lot of the examples of abuse that Members on my side of the House— [ Interruption . ] I mean our side of the House—have been bringing forward are violations of existing health and safety or employment law, so we should focus our resources on dealing with that as a first priority. I very much hope that there is a way forward on the directive. We are working very hard to secure an agreement on it in Europe, because that is ultimately where we need to do so.

In light of the Secretary of State's comments, I am sure that he agrees that the practice of some employers of keeping agency and temporary workers on such contracts for years on end is a scandal. However, the Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill will damage the interests of most workers and businesses alike, so will the Government work urgently to eradicate this abuse, either in Committee—

Order. I must say to the hon. Lady, and I have mentioned this before, that reading off a supplementary question is not permissible. That was a bit too long.

I repeat to the hon. Lady what I said earlier: we recognise that there are abuses in relation to permatemps. Those abuses should be addressed, and they can be if we get a sensible agreement on the agency workers directive. For those reasons, and others that I could go into, the Government are not supporting the Bill of my hon. Friend Andrew Miller. We are hoping instead to reach proper agreement in the European Union.

Following more than 120 of his union-inspired hon. Friends rebelling against the Government last Friday, the Minister ran scared into announcing a commission to review Laws on agency workers. Yet, in Europe, he still claims to stand firm against losing our competitive advantage on agency workers—

Order. I cannot very well tell off a Back Bencher, and then find that a Front Bencher has gone on to make a speech. The hon. Gentleman is putting a supplementary so that is what he should do.

Is there some hidden agenda here or is this another example of the Government dithering?

I think— [ Interruption. ]

Order. I see that the hon. Gentleman is protesting. Surely the Front Benchers know how to put a supplementary question. [ Interruption. ] Then do it. As to stepping up and starting to read off a speech, it has to be remembered that it is not only the front bench that gets privileges in this House, but every Back Bencher. If hon. and right hon. Gentlemen on the Front Bench cannot do it right, I have to intervene on them.

All I can say to the hon. Gentleman is that our proposals for a commission to try to resolve those issues were raised several weeks ago, and if we can reach an agreement on this issue, that is the right way forward. Decent employers recognise that there has been abuse and they want to work with us to tackle it. It does the UK no favours to be accused of not tackling such abuses. The simple choice for us is this: if we think that there is a problem, we should try to solve it. We think that there is a problem, but the directive has to be right before the UK can sign up to it.