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91696

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2014
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Home Care Services: Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many home care providers were investigated by HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last four years; and what proportion of those providers was found not to be paying the national minimum wage.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	209191
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/10/2014 answer text <p>The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously. HMRC review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, by collating and analysing data received from various sources, HMRC ensure targeted enforcement to identify employers across the United Kingdom who are more likely to be not paying NMW.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The following table shows the number of employers in the home care sector over the past four years where HMRC have commenced and completed investigations. It also shows the percentage of instances where employers were found to be non-complaint with NMW legislation as a result of these investigations. <ins></ins></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Investigations</p></td><td> </td><td><p>Percentage</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>13</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>23%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>46</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>39%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>24</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>46%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>13</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>15%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke question first answered 17/10/2014 13:16:28 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

65127

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	National Careers Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff are currently employed in the National Careers Service; and how many staff he expects to be employed after the new contract for that service is in place.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	203480
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>As of 1 January 2014 the staff cohort for the National Careers Service was 3,740 people, these figures may vary during the course of the year. Future staff numbers will be decided by the prime contractors of the National Careers Service in line with their contractual responsibilities.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 07/07/2014 15:40:57 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

65126

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Vocational Guidance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what contractual requirements to provide face-to-face advice will be in the contracts of providers of the National Careers Guidance; and what the current levels of provision are.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	203479
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Twelve regional National Careers Service providers will be contractually obliged to deliver an area based service that will provide careers advice to adults through digital and social media platforms, on the telephone and face to face from 1 October 2014. The contractors must ensure that customers are aware of the ways they can access the service. Face to face careers advice is available for customers that request it, those who need intensive direct support or those who are unable to access digital and telephone services. <br> <br> The National Careers Service delivered the following during the 2013-14 financial year:</p><p> </p><p>664,948 new adult customers who accessed face to face advice;</p><p> </p><p>371,778 telephone advice sessions for adults;</p><p> </p><p>52,150 telephone advice sessions, webchat, emails and texts for young people;</p><p> </p><p>15,710,908 website visits.</p><p> </p><p>25,871 mobile web home page views</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 07/07/2014 15:42:03 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

64170

	registered interest
	date	26/06/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	National Careers Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of potential changes in the number of jobs at the National Careers Service arising from the Government's digital-by-default policy.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	202577
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The new National Careers Service has been designed to respond to the changing needs of the economy with a focus on local leadership and providing inspiring careers advice for customers, including a new brokerage role to facilitate relationships between schools and employers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As part of the re-procurement process organisations were assessed on their capacity and capability to deliver the service through face to face services and a range of media that meet customers' specific needs and preferences. It is a matter for the new contractors how they achieve outcomes for customers including how they deploy their staff resource to deliver the service.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 01/07/2014 14:16:46 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

91678

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Home Care Services: Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the profitability of the home care sector of the economy and (b) the proportion of home care providers which do not pay their employees the national minimum wage.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	209190
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/10/2014 answer text <p>The Department of Health has discussions with homecare providers and the trade bodies that represent them, but they do not measure the profitability of the sector as a whole.</p><p> </p><p>Between the periods of 1<sup>st</sup> April 2011 and 31<sup>st</sup> March 2013, HMRC made targeted enquiries into 224 employers in the social care sector of which 206 have been completed. HMRC found non-compliance in 104 (50%) of these enquiries identifying for 6,367 workers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 13/10/2014 13:40:27 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

91670

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what proportion of those estimated not to be in receipt of the national minimum wage call the the Pay and Rights Helpline.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	209187
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/10/2014 answer text <p>Estimates from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings for April 2013 show that there were around 279,000 jobs paid below the national minimum wage (NMW) held by people aged 16 and over (which constitutes 1.1% of all employee jobs in the UK labour market).</p><p> </p><p>The number of complaints about the NMW to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH) in 2013/14 was 3747 (including some calls up to May 2014). We do not know what number of complaints to the PWRH come from workers who are not paid the NMW. There are a number of other callers who also ring the helpline to obtain advice and are able to have their issue resolved at this stage without needing to make a formal complaint.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>During 2013/14, HMRC conducted 1,455 investigations (39% of the number of calls to the PWRH). From the investigations, 47 per cent of the cases were found to be non-compliant, which covers 22,610 workers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 13/10/2014 14:35:41 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

65128

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	National Careers Service
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what quality criteria will be included in contracts for provision of the National Careers Service; and how performance against those criteria will be monitored.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	203481
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>National Careers Service Prime Contractors are required to comply with robust quality standards. All Prime Contractors must hold and retain the matrix Standard; they must comply with the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework for Further Education and Skills; they must participate in any research to assess, measure and improve the quality of the National Careers Service, and; they must produce an evidence-based self-assessment review each year. They will also need to provide evidence of their partnership activity and their role in brokering relationships between employers and schools and colleges.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 07/07/2014 15:43:08 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

91679

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Minimum Wage
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received on national minimum wage and travel time; and if he will take steps to publicise guidance on travel time and the national minimum wage.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	209188
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/10/2014 answer text <p>The Government is clear that travel time and rest breaks between assignments should be paid at least the appropriate National Minimum Wage rate.</p><p> </p><p>Despite this the Government has received information from a number of sources that there are concerns about the relationship between the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and travel time.</p><p> </p><p>In response to these concerns the Government has taken a number of steps to publicise and inform employers and workers of the NMW rules around travel time:-</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>the Department of Health have developed statutory guidance, in conjunction with a range of stakeholders, which refers to employment law and to HMRC guidance on payment of travel time, to help Local Authorities assure themselves that the care companies they contract with comply with NMW regulations.</li><li>The Government has collaborated with care sector representative bodies to improve understanding of compliance risks and design controls within payroll systems that prevent workers being underpaid the minimum wage, in order to improve compliance.</li><li>Guidance on Gov.uk has been updated to make it as clear as possible that travel time and rest breaks between assignments must be paid at least the NMW.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government will continue to work with the sector to ensure that understanding improves. This will include the Department of Health’s statutory guidance as part of the overall guidance on market shaping and commissioning, the final version of which will be published in Autumn 2014.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 13/10/2014 13:43:17 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

91677

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Home Care Services: Pay
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to tackle non-payment of the national minimum wage in the home care sector; and what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the estimate of the numbers not in receipt of the national minimum wage in paragraph 2.20 of the National Audit Office report, Adult social care in England: overview, HC 1102.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	209189
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/10/2014 answer text <p>The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and the effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has collaborated with care sector representative bodies to improve understanding of compliance risks and design controls within payroll systems that prevent workers being underpaid the minimum wage, in order to improve compliance.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on Gov.uk has been updated to make it as clear as possible that travel time and rest breaks between assignments must be paid at least the national minimum wage (NMW).</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government will continue to work with the sector to ensure that understanding improves. This will include the Department of Health’s statutory guidance as part of the overall guidance on market shaping and commissioning the final version of which will be published in Autumn 2014.</p><p> </p><p>We have considered the National Audit Office report and note that their estimates come from a self-reported survey of care workers. Examination of surveys of individuals (such as the Labour Force Survey) find that some people tend to report longer working hours and a lower hourly rate compared to those reported by employers who pay the minimum wage.</p><p> </p><p>The current best estimate of non-compliance is derived from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)[1]. The Low Pay Commission[2] published the proportion of jobs held by those aged 22 and over, paid below the NMW by sector. Figures show that non-compliance is relatively low in social care (0.8%) compared with other sectors. This is generally in line with non-compliance in the whole economy.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This estimate, as well as all estimates of non-compliance, has some limitations. However, there are no reasons to suppose that these limitations affect the social care sector more or less than the econom<ins class="ministerial">y</ins> <ins class="ministerial">as a whole.</ins></p><p> </p><p>[1] ASHE is a survey of employees completed by employers which we can use to look at workers earning at or below the NMW rate.</p><p>[2]<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288841/The_National_Minimum_Wage_LPC_Report_2014.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288841/The_National_Minimum_Wage_LPC_Report_2014.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 13/10/2014 14:26:37 question first ministerially corrected 13/10/2014 15:49:32 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson previous answer version 21455 answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

91672

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2014
	answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept id	26
	answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
	hansard heading	Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to publicise the Pay and Rights Helpline.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	209185
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/10/2014 answer text <p>The telephone number for the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (0800 917 2368) is publicised on the Gov.UK website, the Government Facebook page (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/nmwage" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/nmwage</a>), and by stakeholders.</p><p> </p><p>The Minister has conducted media interviews to raise awareness of this issue. Furthermore, the Government is currently running a marketing campaign running from 8 September to the end of December 2014 in which the Pay and Work Rights telephone number is being publicised to employers and workers through the media and stakeholder communications. I also take every opportunity I can to publicise the number in media interviews.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 13/10/2014 14:42:57 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham