A Private Members' Bill seeking equal pay and conditions for temporary agency workers failed to make any progress in the House of Commons on 2 March, after time ran out before MPs could vote on it.

The Temporary Agency Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Bill, brought by Paul Farrelly, Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, was debated for some 45 minutes but no vote took place before the close of business at 2.30pm.

The bill was therefore suspended. This means that this subject will not now be discussed in this Parliamentary session, although it could be put back on the agenda, in theory, before the opening of the next Parliament in November.

The Bill had come about after trade unions put pressure on the government to act on the temporary workers issue, but it now looks set to go on the back-burner, at least for the time being.

"We welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue but we think the union's concerns are unfounded and we've got the research to prove it," Anne Fairweather, external relations manager at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), told Recruiter.

"We do think it's right that abuse of workers needs to be tackled, but it's how you go about doing it that matters."

Fairweather revealed that the REC had written to Farrelly just before Christmas, proposing a meeting to discuss his concerns, but the MP did not reply to the request.

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