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100103

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
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, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2014 to Question 201383, how much was spent on national minimum wage enforcement in 2013-14.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	211245
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p>£7.5m was spent by HM Revenue and Customs on the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage in 2013/14.</p><p>We have increased the budget allocation for National Minimum Wage enforcement in 2014/15 to £9.2m. This extra funding will enable HMRC to increase the number of compliance officers working in this area who, as well as continuing to respond to every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline, will also undertake targeted enforcement, focusing on the worst offending employers in the highest-risk sectors.</p><p>Anyone who believes they are entitled to the National Minimum Wage and has not received it should contact this free and confidential helpline on 0800 917 2368.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 24/10/2014 11:29:09 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

91669

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, which sectors of the economy he estimates to have the lowest compliance with national minimum wage legislation.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	209186
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/10/2014 answer text <p>The main estimate of non-compliance used is from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)[1]. The table below shows the proportion of jobs held by those aged 22 and over, paid below the full adult national minimum wage (NMW) (at the time of the ASHE survey) by sector. It is reproduced from the latest Low Pay Commission report[2].</p><p>This is a proxy measure for non-compliance as these figures include people who for legitimate reasons are paid less than the adult NMW for example because they are on the apprentice NMW rate or are living in accommodation provided by their employer. The ASHE survey is based on a sample of employee jobs drawn from HMRC’s Pay-As-You-Earn income tax records and consequently it does not include all workers who earn below the Lower Earnings Limit. These two factors tend to offset each other but we do not know definitively how large the combined effect is. However, we believe that it is small.</p><p> </p><p>Proportion of jobs held by those aged 22 and over, paid below the national minimum wage by sector, UK, 2012-13</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Sectors</p></td><td><p>Paid below 2013 April NMW rate (£6.19)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hairdressing</p></td><td><p>3.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Childcare</p></td><td><p>2.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hospitality</p></td><td><p>2.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cleaning</p></td><td><p>2.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Leisure, travel &amp; sport</p></td><td><p>1.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Retail</p></td><td><p>1.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Transport</p></td><td><p>1.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Agriculture</p></td><td><p>1.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Storage</p></td><td><p>0.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Social care</p></td><td><p>0.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Textiles &amp; clothing</p></td><td><p>0.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Office work</p></td><td><p>0.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Employment agencies</p></td><td><p>0.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Food processing</p></td><td><p>0.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Non-food Processing</p></td><td><p>0.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Whole economy</strong></p></td><td><p>0.8</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </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 12:16:52 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

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

90947

registered interest
date	08/09/2014
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, how many employers have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment since 1 October 2013; and of those how many have been identified under the Department's National Minimum Wage naming scheme.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	208599
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><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> </p><p> </p><p>Notices of Underpayment (NOU) have been issued in 571 cases where investigations were completed between 1 October 2013 and 31 July 2014. 118 of these were for investigations that commenced on or after 1 October 2013 and were therefore issued under the new scheme.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Of these, the Government has so far named 30 employers under the revised scheme. Between them they owed workers a total of over £50,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £24,000. Some employers may also not be named if they make representations that fall under the very exceptional circumstances of the scheme or if they have arrears of £100 or less. However the vast majority of employers issued with a notice of underpayment will be named and shamed once the time limits for appeals have expired.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 11/09/2014 15:11:27 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

89438

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2014, Official Report, column 246W, on the national minimum wage, how many of the firms named and shamed for breach of the national minimum wage up to 8 June 2014 were issued notices of underpayments once the firm had dissolved; what the time was between each underpayment and the time of issuing of notice; how many of the employers named and shamed (a) paid their employees the underpayment and (b) paid a financial penalty to the Government; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	207292
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2014 answer text <p>The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.</p><p>All 30 employers that have been named and shamed up to 8 June 2014 were issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU) and were still in existence when the NoU was issued.</p><p>The Department’s answer to the Hon. Member’s parliamentary question of 25 June 2014 (Official Report, column 246W) sets out the months that the NoU were issued. HMRC do not record the time between the date of each underpayment and the issue of the Notice of Underpayment. HMRC can pursue arrears claims for workers going back up to six years and therefore a worker may complain up to six years after the time they think they were underpaid. Additionally, investigations following a complaint may identify further underpaid workers or other periods of underpayment going back several years.</p><p>All of the employers who were named and shamed paid the arrears due to workers and also the financial penalty imposed.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 05/09/2014 13:43:47 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

77337

registered interest
date	11/07/2014
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	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, if he will take steps to increase the national minimum wage so that its real terms value is equal to that of January 2010.
tabling member constituency	Bolton North East
tabling member printed	Mr David Crausby
uin	205379
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2014 answer text <p>This Government is fully committed to the national minimum wage (NMW) set by the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC) at a level that maximises the wages of the low paid without damaging their employment prospects by setting it too high.</p><p>We welcome the LPC's 2014 assessment that marks the start of a new phase of bigger, real increases in the minimum wage, provided economic conditions continue to improve. In our recent 2015 remit we have asked the LPC to think ahead and build on the forward guidance that sets out our ambition to see real increases in the NMW.</p><p>Furthermore, since its introduction the NMW has increased faster than average earnings and inflation without an adverse effect on employment. From October this year the 3% rise of the adult rate means full time workers on national minimum wage will receive an additional £355 a year. This is the biggest cash increase since 2008.</p> answering member constituency East Dunbartonshire answering member printed Jo Swinson question first answered 16/07/2014 13:41:18 answering member 1513 label Biography information for Jo Swinson
tabling member	437 label Biography information for Sir David Crausby

63160

registered interest
date	23/06/2014
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	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, if he will carry out an assessment of the positive and negative effects of setting the minimum wage at £10 per hour.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
tabling member printed	Mr Roger Godsiff
uin	201866
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>It is the role of the independent Low Pay Commission to make National Minimum Wage rate recommendations that maximises earnings, without damaging employment prospects.</p><p>The National Minimum Wage for those aged 21 and over is currently £6.31, rising to £6.50 from 1 October 2014. Given the remit of the Low Pay Commission, we can conclude that they would consider that a higher rate would have a negative impact on employment.</p><p>In its 2015 recommendations, the Government has asked the Low Pay Commission to consider whether we are entering a new phase where real term increases in the National Minimum Wage can be afforded without damaging employment rates.</p> answering member constituency Cardiff Central answering member printed Jenny Willott question first answered 26/06/2014 14:51:16 answering member 1497 label Biography information for Jenny Willott
tabling member	304 label Biography information for Mr Roger Godsiff

63467

registered interest
date	23/06/2014
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	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 resources have been allocated for enforcement action against employers who do not pay the national minimum wage.
tabling member constituency	Luton North
tabling member printed	Kelvin Hopkins
uin	904478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have 173 staff dedicated to the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is already taking tougher action on employers that break minimum wage law. We have made it simpler to name and shame employers that don't pay the national minimum wage and increased the financial penalty that employers pay for breaking the law.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Cardiff Central answering member printed Jenny Willott question first answered 26/06/2014 15:28:53 answering member 1497 label Biography information for Jenny Willott
tabling member	2 label Biography information for Kelvin Hopkins

63559

registered interest
date	23/06/2014
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	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 resources have been allocated for enforcement action against employers who do not pay the national minimum wage.
tabling member constituency	Inverclyde
tabling member printed	Iain McKenzie
uin	904486
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have 173 staff dedicated to the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is already taking tougher action on employers that break minimum wage law. We have made it simpler to name and shame employers that don't pay the national minimum wage and increased the financial penalty that employers pay for breaking the law.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Cardiff Central answering member printed Jenny Willott question first answered 26/06/2014 15:29:51 answering member 1497 label Biography information for Jenny Willott
tabling member	4246 label Biography information for Iain McKenzie