Sir Julian Lewis:  To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to prevent non-disclosure agreements from being used to conceal serious misconduct against former employees.  [53454]

[Due for Answer on 2 June]

ANSWER

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets (Justin Madders): The Government has been clear that non-disclosure agreements should not be misused by employers to conceal misconduct in the workplace. There are already legal limitations as to what NDAs can be used for, meaning the relevant clause would be unenforceable if it attempted to prevent a worker from whistleblowing, require a worker to cover up iniquity, or prevent a worker from doing anything that they may be required to do by law. We continue to look at how to make improvements to ensuring the misuse of NDAs is not used to conceal misconduct in the workplace.