§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the current definitions of(a) part-time employee and (b) temporary worker used by his Department; what changes have been made in this definition since 1979; and what plans she has to change this definition.
§ Mr. McLoughlin[holding answer 19 January 1993]: The most widely used employment definitions occur in the context of the Department's statistical surveys.
The employer-based surveys classify part-time employees as those who normally work thirty hours a week or less. These surveys do not distinguish between temporary workers and other categories of employee.
The household-based labour force survey has two methods by which part-time employees can be defined. The usual way is by whether or not the respondents consider themselves to be in part-time employment. The alternative classifies as part-time those working 30 hours or less per week. For the purposes of this survey, temporary workers are those who have an understanding with their employer that their jobs are of fixed duration or that their employment will cease when another condition —for example, the return of an employee who has been temporarily replaced—is met.
The definitions have not changed since 1979 and there are no plans to alter them.