Jim Fitzpatrick MP
A Positive Opportunity
Minister for Employment Relations, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, the man representing industry at the highest level, gives his insight on the recruitment industry.
1. What do you believe that the recruitment industry contributes to the labour market and the economy?
Since 1997 the UK labour market has become one of the most successful in the world, with more people in work than ever before.
Our labour market combines the flexibility that both workers and employers seek whilst maintaining a core of protections for workers.
Agency work can provide a route into employment as a stepping-stone to permanent employment. Around one in three agency workers were previously economically inactive. Agency work also enables individuals who do not want permanent work to participate in the labour market. Many people working for temp agencies value the opportunities this form of work provides.
Agency workers play a key role in enabling labour market flexibility that helps companies to meet peaks and troughs in demand.
The annual turnover of the private recruitment industry has risen from around £3.5 billion in 1992 to around £24 billion now. It is certainly a significant industry.
2. The Government is committed to reviewing unnecessary bureaucracy. Is this something that could impact on the UK recruitment industry within the context of EAA regulations, for example?
The DTI is currently carrying out an Employment Law Simplification Review, closely tied to the Department’s wider work on better regulation. This aims to reduce the costs and complexity of employment law, without diluting employee and union rights.
Some of our current work will directly impact on recruitment agencies; for example, the recently published consultation on protecting vulnerable agency workers includes proposals that seek to reduce the requirements on agencies to supply information to job seekers and hirers where workers are supplied for very short-term tasks.
We want to provide extra protection for the most vulnerable agency workers without adding burdens for the great majority of reputable agencies. This reflects our commitment to supporting good employers. We want to tackle the issues in a manner that is effective for work-seekers and industry. I look forward to REC’s response to this consultation, and to responses from other stakeholders.
3. What is your view of the role that REC has to play in raising standards?
I welcome the work that trade associations do in raising standards and I am delighted to see REC taking forward initiatives to do this. The Audited Scheme, the Quality Mark for education agencies, the updated Code of Practice and REC’s recent guidance material for migrant workers, will all help maintain and drive up standards.
4. How can the EAS and the REC work together more proactively to oust
the cowboys?
We share REC’s ambition to raise the profile, standing and professional standards of the recruitment industry in the UK. As I said earlier – this is our commitment to support the good employers and target those who seek to cut corners and not comply with the law.
We will target rogue agencies that give the industry a bad name by abusing those who use their services.
Our consultation on protecting vulnerable agency workers aims to address bad practices that not only harm workers but also tarnish the whole industry. The Government will support those reputable agencies and tackle the ones which seek to undercut by breaking the law.
I look forward to working with REC and others to take this forward.
5. How do you think the work of the GLA is going? Can you envisage it being extended to other sections of the recruitment industry?
The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) is still a relatively new regime, and I believe it’s too early to make any assessment. The Department is working closely with the GLA and share their commitment to raise standards within the agriculture and food processing sectors. We all want to ensure that workers are not abused and that the exploitative and illegal activities of gangmasters in these sectors are stopped.
6. Your constituents should benefit from the Olympic legacy. What should recruitment agencies be doing to ensure that employment legacy becomes a reality?
I believe they should use this opportunity to promote good practice, and use the Olympics to showcase the positive side of agency work. This is a major event and as such it should be a golden opportunity to show the advantages agency work can provide for people and how they can use this experience in future roles. It will be important that recruitment firms take advantage of the full diversity of people eligible to work in the area and help them to benefit from the experience and skills they develop.
