Call for Evidence

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, chaired by Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, is launching an inquiry on employment and COVID-19.

The Committee will examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market and consider what urgent measures should be taken to protect and create jobs. The Committee will also examine how the labour market may change as a result of the pandemic in the longer term. It intends to make recommendations to Government.

The Committee is seeking evidence on the following questions: 

• What steps should be taken to protect and create jobs over the next two years? What trade-offs should be considered?
• What barriers to entering employment could be removed to support the labour market recovery?
• Which sectors are likely to experience the most change in supply and demand?
• To what extent should any future intervention by the Government in the labour market be targeted sectorally and/or regionally?
• What lessons can be learned from previous recessions and active labour market policy interventions in the UK? What lessons can be learned from schemes and interventions that have been implemented in other countries?
• What steps should be taken to create a sustainable recovery over the medium and longer term?
• How should the Government support training and skills development?
• What positive and negative trends in employment may have been accelerated as a result of COVID-19?

This is a public call for written evidence to be submitted to the Committee. The deadline is 4 December 2020. The Committee intends to report before Christmas so we encourage stakeholders to provide their submissions as early as possible.

The Committee is looking to hear from as diverse a range of views as possible—if you think someone you know would have an interest in contributing to the inquiry, please pass this on to them.

Short, concise submissions are preferred. Responses should not be longer than five sides of A4. The Committee cannot accept anything that has not been prepared specifically in response to this call for evidence, or that has been published elsewhere.

Guidance on how to submit evidence is below.

 ANNEX 1: Guidance for Submissions

Written submissions should be submitted online, as a Word document, using the written submission form available at https://committees.parliament.uk/submission/#/evidence/229/preamble. This page also provides guidance on submitting evidence.

If you have difficulty submitting online, please contact the Committee staff by email at economicaffairs@parliament.uk or by telephoning 020 7219 5358.

Short submissions are preferred. Paragraphs should be numbered. All submissions made through the written submission form should receive an on-screen confirmation once the evidence has been submitted.

Evidence which is accepted by the Committee may be published online at any stage; when it is so published it becomes subject to parliamentary copyright and is protected by parliamentary privilege. Submissions which have been previously published elsewhere will not be accepted as evidence.

Once you have received acknowledgement that the evidence has been accepted you will receive a further email, and at this point you may publicise or publish your evidence yourself. In doing so you must indicate that it was prepared for the Committee, and you should be aware that your publication or re-publication of your evidence may not be protected by parliamentary privilege.

Personal contact details will be removed from evidence before publication, but will be retained by the Committee Office and used for specific purposes relating to the Committee’s work, for instance to seek additional information.

Persons who submit written evidence, and others, may be invited to give oral evidence. Oral evidence is usually given in public at Westminster and broadcast online; transcripts are produced and published online. Persons invited to give oral evidence will be notified separately of the procedure to be followed and the topics likely to be discussed.

Substantive communications to the Committee about the inquiry should be addressed through the Clerk of the Committee, whether or not they are intended to constitute formal evidence to the Committee.

This is a public call for evidence. Please bring it to the attention of other groups and individuals who may not have received a copy directly.

You may follow the progress of the inquiry at https://committees.parliament.uk/work/480/employment-and-COVID19/.