Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Mr Chris Ruane. He is not here; therefore, the grouping with Question 12 falls, and questioner 12 will have to come in at that point.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

5. What steps the Government are taking to (a) enforce payment of the minimum wage and (b) encourage firms to pay the living wage.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

9. What steps the Government are taking to (a) enforce payment of the minimum wage and (b) encourage firms to pay the living wage.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Jo Swinson)]

The Government are taking tough action on employers that break minimum wage law. We have made it simpler to name and shame employers that do not pay the national minimum wage properly, and have increased the financial penalty that employers pay for breaking the law. The Government will always support and encourage businesses to pay higher than the national minimum wage, where they can.

[Diana Johnson]

The Sunday Mirror has reported that Greencore, which has a factory in Hull, is recruiting 300 Hungarians to undercut local jobseekers and is resisting a 6p an hour pay increase. It is part of a growing trend of low-paid work that removes people from the official jobless figures, but not from poverty. An estimated 300,000 workers earn less than the national minimum wage. How can Ministers claim to be serious about promoting the living wage, when they fail to enforce the minimum wage properly?

[Jo Swinson]

The hon. Lady is right to highlight the importance of businesses and employers paying the national minimum wage properly. We absolutely agree. We have invested extra money in enforcement and are helping more employees. Indeed, last year, £4.6 million of arrears was secured for workers who had not been properly paid. We have also increased the penalties and the resources to enforce the penalties, and we are now naming and shaming companies that offend.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jo Swinson]

Clearly, we are concerned about such scenarios, where people not only evade taxation law but do not have proper employment rights. I will happily look into the specific case that my hon. Friend raises and see how we can ensure that the rules are properly enforced.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

T4. Is the Minister responsible for employment relations, consumer affairs and equalities, and the only woman in the Department, ashamed that since her Government introduced tribunal fees we have seen an 84% fall in equal pay claims, putting barriers in the way of justice at a time when the gender pay gap is increasing? So much for the sisterhood.

[Jo Swinson]

Although I share the hon. Lady’s desire for gender equality, I have to put her right on a couple of points. I am not the only woman in the Department: Baroness Neville-Rolfe plays an important role in the other place. The gender pay gap is falling and fell significantly in the figures announced only yesterday. That is good news, but of course more needs to be done. That is why we are ensuring that we support women in the workplace through initiatives such as “Think, Act, Report” and through our reforms of flexible working and shared parental leave. It is this Government who are introducing such initiatives, which her Government failed to do.