Asked by: Earl of Listowel (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the review by Professor Arindrajit Dube of the international evidence on the impacts of minimum wages will begin; and when the review will make its interim and final reports.
Answered by Lord Henley
Through the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, the Government ensures that the lowest paid in our society are fairly rewarded for their work. From April 2019, over 2.1 million people will benefit from inflation-beating increases in the minimum wages rates.
At Spring Statement 2019, the Government confirmed the Low Pay Commission’s remit for the National Living Wage to reach 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020, subject to sustained economic growth. At £8.21 an hour, the National Living Wage is on track to meet this target. Later this year, the Government will set out the Low Pay Commission’s remit beyond 2020, with the ultimate objective of ending low pay in the UK.
To help inform this new remit, the Government has appointed Professor Arindrajit Dube to undertake a review of the latest international evidence on the impacts of minimum wages and consider the implications for future minimum wage policy in the UK. The review began in March 2019 and Professor Dube will present his findings in the autumn.