10th Report - Hand car washes
- HC No.
- HC 981
- Published
- 15 Nov 2018
- Items
- 0
- Government response
- Government response published 1 February 2019. Read the government's response ↗
Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Hand car washes inquiry
Closed
Opened 16 Apr 2018
Closed 2 Feb 2019
Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
Although the focus of the Committee’s inquiry will be on environmental issues, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commission (IASC) has produced a list of indications of exploitation at hand car washes. The Committee will also be asking the Government how it is meeting its commitments under Sustainable Development Goal 8 (‘decent work and economic growth’) in this context.
Where it stands
The inquiry is closed, opened 16 April 2018.
The committee has published 1 report, most recently 10th Report - Hand car washes on 15 November 2018.
The government's response
Published 1 February 2019.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees on the importance of effective regulation and accepts some recommendations, but prefers a voluntary pilot scheme to a compulsory trial licensing scheme and defends its civil approach to minimum wage enforcement.
- On guidance, the government agrees with the recommendation to update the pollution prevention guidance, and says the Environment Agency will update it for publication on GOV.UK "early next year" and direct planning departments in England to it.
- On supermarkets, the Environment Agency "has agreed to write to major supermarkets in 2019" about their responsibilities as landlords for hand car washes on their land.
- On licensing, the government "recognises that licensing can be a valuable tool" but believes a voluntary pilot approach is better than "a compulsory trial licensing scheme". It says the Responsible Car Wash Scheme will be evaluated.
- On minimum wage prosecutions, the government says "Prosecution is not necessarily the best approach in most cases". It refers potential criminal cases to the Crown Prosecution Service and applies civil sanctions to other cases. It will "carefully consider" any recommendations from the independent Modern Slavery Act review on the scope of section 54, which is due to report by 31 March 2019.
Reports
- 10th Report - Hand car washes15 November 2018
Evidence
- 2 oral evidence sessionsLatest 10 July 2018
Recent activity
- 14th Special Report - Hand car washes: Government Response to the Committee’s Tenth Report1 February 2019, Report published
- Letter from Minister for Implementation to the Chair on Modern Slavery in UK public sector supply chains, 8 January 201915 January 2019, Correspondence
- 10th Report - Hand car washes15 November 2018, Report published
Reports
Oral evidence sessions
On smaller screens, scroll horizontally to read every column. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
Correspondence
On smaller screens, scroll horizontally to read every column. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Published | Direction | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Jan 2019 | To committee | Letter from Minister for Implementation to the Chair on Modern Slavery in UK public sector supply chains, 8 January 2019 |
| 6 Nov 2018 | To committee | Letter from HM Revenue and Customs to the Chair regarding the Committee’s inquiry into Hand Car Washes, 5 July 2018 |