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20


Zero Hour Contracts Zero hours contracts are cre- ating desperate lives. I know this as I’ve spoken to many people across South Edin- burgh, who are employed on such contracts and they’ve told me of the struggle they and their families face on a daily basis. As I wrote in my article


in the Guardian (click here to read my column), prior to en- tering parliament I ran a number of small businesses, and through that experience I know that staff perform best when you respect them and give them confidence and sta- bility through clear working hours and responsibilities. I recognise that not all zero- hours contracts are bad but the exploitation of them needs to end. In Parliament, there


was an important opportunity to discuss these issues and I responded to the debate on behalf of the Opposition. You can click here to watch my contribution.


of zero-hours contracts where employees are in practice working regular hours over a sustained period. Hard-working people


should feel confident and se- cure at work; ending the ex- ploitative use of zero-hours contracts is an integral part of achieving this.


Post Office Ltd Statement There was an urgent state- ment to the House in July on the Post Office’s Horizon sys- tem which handles all pay- ment processing with the Post Office's 11,500 contractors who run sub–post offices throughout the country. Over 100 postmasters have regis- tered complaints after being accused of cooking the books by the errant payment sys- tem. Some have been jailed and others have lost their homes and businesses. The people who work


Last week, Ed Miliband


outlined how a Labour Gov- ernment would ban employers from insisting zero-hours workers be available even when there is no guarantee of any work, stop zero-hours contracts that require workers to work exclusively for one business and end the misuse


in the post office network across the country are the life- blood of our communities and they must be supported in every way possible. But it is becoming an extraordinarily difficult task. I welcome the steps that have been taken by Post Office Ltd in investigat- ing the concerns raised by the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance which was estab- lished to demonstrate that the Horizon system was caus- ing sub-postmasters difficulty and hardship and, in some cas-


es, causing them to lose their businesses and homes. I hope the Post Office


will make further improve- ments to the system to en- sure this does not happen again.


Click here to watch my contri- bution.


High Cost Credit Debate As I have said in these pages previously, the pace at which the high-cost credit industry has grown has been stagger- ing – staggering because it in- dicates that circumstances across the country are gener- ating demand from our con- stituents. Earlier this week, I par-


ticipated in a debate in high- cost credit. There were huge- ly valuable contributions from all parties and the conclusion was that much more needed to be done to tackle the prob- lem. Whilst the high-cost credit crisis has deepened, month by month, sadly this Government has talked big, but acted small. I hope that Ministers will listen and they will take action. Click the play button to


watch my contribution to the debate.


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