Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 26th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Jenny Willott]

Clearly we feel very strongly that employers should pay the national minimum wage. People working on the minimum wage are, by definition, on the lowest incomes in society, so it is critical that everything is done to ensure that they are paid it. Every complaint that is made to the pay and work rights helpline is investigated, and where arrears are found they are paid back and employers pay a significant penalty. We are happy to work with any part of Government and any organisations that are keen to ensure that the minimum wage is paid. We will ensure that any complaints reported to the pay and work rights helpline are investigated.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Cardiff Central (Jenny Willott), who has always been a very kind and effective Minister, and wish her well in her return to the dark arts of the Government Whips Office. Given that compliment, I am sure that she will wish to agree with me that any sanctions for non-compliance with the national minimum wage are ineffective without proper enforcement. Figures show that since the Government came to power the number of national minimum wage inspections is down by 60%, with only two prosecutions. That is hardly surprising, given that a recent answer she gave to a parliamentary question committed a budget of £9.2 million to enforcement, but the head of the national minimum wage enforcement unit publicly stated only last month that the budget is just £8 million. Just like the Chancellor’s hollow promise to increase the national minimum wage to £7, is this not just another example of the Government failing to stand up for the lowest paid against rogue employers?

[Jenny Willott]

I completely disagree with the hon. Gentleman. The enforcement action taken by HMRC has significantly increased the number of workers who are getting the wages they are due. Between 2009-10 and 2013-14, there was an increase of over 17% in the number of workers who were helped and were given arrears, and the amount that has been paid back has been increased significantly. In addition, we are increasing fourfold the penalty that employers have to pay, and we now have in place a very draconian naming and shaming scheme. That means that all employers who are found not to have paid the national minimum wage are put forward for naming and shaming, and, unless exceptional circumstances are involved, they will be named publicly. That is acting as a real disincentive to employers not to treat their staff fairly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 10th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

Nobody has lost anything. Britain has gained a top-100 company in which 10% of the shares are owned by the staff themselves. Nearly three quarters of a million individual investors also have shares in Royal Mail. We achieved our objective of realising nearly £2 billion of receipts for the Exchequer, ensuring that Royal Mail has been put on a sound commercial footing.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

The Minister can spin this as much as he likes, but he shamefully lost the taxpayer £750 million from the sale of Royal Mail. At that time, the Business Secretary dismissed the loss, saying:

“We wanted to make sure that the company started its new life with a core of high-quality investors who would be there in good times and bad”.

Given that the core long-term investors that the Business Secretary championed have used the good times to sell the majority of their shares at huge profit, is it not right that the Government tell us who those priority investors are, so that the taxpayers know where their lost millions went?

[Michael Fallon]

Nobody has lost anything from the sale of Royal Mail. More than half the shares allocated to priority investors remain with those investors, and the share price has fluctuated wildly. I do not think the hon. Gentleman has been in touch with his broker recently; otherwise he would know that the share price closed last night at 17% down on its post-float peak.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

The maritime sector is subject to the national minimum wage if it is operating within the UK jurisdiction. I will happily take up the case that the hon. Gentleman mentions and, indeed, I was aware of accusations of abuse in this sector.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

We know that the Government do not want to admit that the country is engulfed by a cost of living crisis, but that denial is made worse when the Chancellor is exposed as giving a hollow and empty promise to raise the national minimum wage to £7 an hour. Indeed, only a few days after he made that promise, the Conservative party issued a memo, under the heading “Common Sense Guide”, advising on how to avoid paying the national minimum wage. Rather than false promises for the lowest paid in our country, would it not be helpful to utilise the Secretary of State’s naming and shaming policy to expose the national minimum wage deniers in his Government and back Labour’s plans for a living wage?

[Vince Cable]

I thought that the Labour party was still committed to supporting the national minimum wage. This is an interesting new evolution of policy, which seems to have been made on the stump. The naming and shaming policy has now come into effect and the first five companies were named at the end of last week.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

Yes. I would have thought that Labour Members would welcome this extension of employee share ownership. I am delighted that 99% of Royal Mail’s employees took up the offer and now have a stake in the success of that company as it moves forward.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

As my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Gregg McClymont) said, the fire sale of Royal Mail has cost the taxpayer in excess of £750 million, but it has not taken it long to enjoy its new privatised status. Reports in the media suggest that the board of Royal Mail is about to propose a significant pay increase for the chief executive to bring her in line with those in other FTSE 100 companies. The Business Secretary says that he will use the Government’s remaining stake as the largest stakeholder to veto the proposals. Does the Minister agree with the Secretary of State, his boss, or is this just froth?

[Michael Fallon]

If this were a fire sale, it would certainly, as my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) has said, be one of the longest fire sales in history, given that Governments have been trying to sell Royal Mail for over 20 years. I think we should salute Moya Greene’s achievement in transforming a loss-making public corporation into one of Britain’s top 100 companies and congratulate her, as one of all too few female chief executives, on her award as business person of the year. We have yet to receive any proposal from the remuneration committee.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson]

The hon. Gentleman understandably raises a constituency case, and I am sure the whole House feels for people in that position. Insecurity in that kind of circumstance, where jobs are lost or people fear for their jobs, is something we all understand. The best way to deliver the security that everybody wants to see for their constituents in work is to continue the recovery that the Government have started, ensure that we keep interest rates low, have a thriving economy and support the small businesses up and down the country that are the engine of growth. That is what the Government’s plan for recovery is delivering.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

One of the main contributors to the rise in the number of people feeling insecure at work is their inability to seek justice through the employment tribunals system. Data announced last week by solicitors Pinsent Masons showed that in some regions the number of employment tribunal claims had fallen by almost 80% since the introduction of fees, despite the Government’s impact assessment measuring it at just 20%. In the light of these figures, does the Minister agree that the level of fees is fundamentally restricting access to justice, and does she agree with the Scottish Women’s Convention that fees are disproportionately affecting women and they are discriminated against in the workplace?

[Jo Swinson]

The hon. Gentleman needs to be careful with his use of statistics, because we have introduced a range of changes to the tribunals system aimed at getting employers and employees to resolve disputes outside the tribunals system, which I would have thought everybody would welcome, given that tribunals are costly in terms of time, stress and money for everybody involved on both sides of the dispute. Our proposals, which we are implementing, on early conciliation and making it easier for disputes to be resolved should be working to reduce the number of tribunals, but the Ministry of Justice has committed to keeping these issues under review, particularly the equality aspects and whether there is any disproportionate effect on one particular group.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

The fees paid to the Government’s advisers will be disclosed in the normal way to the National Audit Office, which is of course looking at this sale as they looked at the Northern Rock sale, but they compare favourably to the fees paid to advisers by the Labour Government in the sale of QinetiQ 10 years ago, when 10 senior managers were allowed to walk away with £107 million and no shares were sold to the public.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

The Minister claimed that value for money for the taxpayer was central to the Government’s fire sale strategy for the national institution that is Royal Mail. Given that many investment banks valued the company at £1.7 billion more than the sale price, that the sale was oversubscribed 20 times over and that the share price has steadily risen to more than 60% of its initial value, why did the Minister reject raising the price range when he knew the offer was oversubscribed? Does the Minister agree with the Secretary of State that the loss of more than £750 million to the taxpayer is froth and ill-informed?

[Michael Fallon]

It is far too early to judge the long-term performance of the Royal Mail share price. With any initial public offering there will be volatility in the price and it is too early to make a judgment. As far as the banks are concerned, a whole number of banks were consulted on the value of Royal Mail. The value established was, I think, around the mid-point of the range of the advice we received.

Adult Literacy and Numeracy

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Dinenage]

I thank the Minister of State and the shadow Minister for their words and thank colleagues from both sides of the House for a fascinating and valuable debate. We have heard some thoughtful and thought-provoking speeches, which have demonstrated a huge underlying passion for this important subject.

There have been some outstanding individual contributions. I am primarily grateful for the support of the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman). Adult literacy and numeracy are a crusade for me and he has been steadfast in his support on every step of the journey. I feel only sadness that I was not at Swansea university when he was a lecturer there and that I missed him by some years, unlike my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr Evans), who had that great opportunity in life. I was also extremely honoured that we got to hear my hon. Friend’s speech from the Back Benches. It was outstanding and showed a depth of understanding of this important subject.

I am grateful to colleagues from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for their support. The Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills takes the issue seriously and also understands that it is not just the responsibility of BIS to address the issue. That must be done across government and across society.

My hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Justin Tomlinson), who is a hero in the world of financial education and has been a champion for the whole issue, asked why I was not more angry in my opening speech. I am angry. I am frustrated, sad and desperately upset that we have failed generations of people in this country through their education and through adult education. We need to grab this issue by the throat and shake it until it works, because people are being failed.

As the Minister said, the most staggering result of the OECD report is the fact that in the developed world we are the only country in which 16 to 24-year-olds have fewer skills in this regard than their grandparents. The most important point to come out of the debate is that this is not a party political issue. It is much more important than that. We must work on the problem for generations to get it right. There is no quick fix and it will not be solved overnight. We must have policies that will get it right far into the future. It cannot be solved quickly and it is not an issue that should be tackled by just BIS and the Department for Education, as the situation is cross-departmental. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions has plans to get as many people as possible off welfare and into work. That is a noble aim but one that must take account of the vast levels of illiteracy that prevent people from getting and holding down a job. We must put the systems in place to recognise that and to help them. The universal credit system, which will be coming in online, presupposes a certain element of not only literacy and numeracy but of computer literacy. That must be a huge concern. In the Ministry of Justice, where the staggering illiteracy rate among prisoners is no coincidence, the promise to reduce reoffending must go hand in hand with promises to tackle illiteracy and innumeracy.

It is an injustice that illiterate and innumerate adults are cut off from so much, whether that is a rewarding job or just being able to read their kid a bedtime story. That needs to be tackled jointly by the Government, society, community groups and charities—some amazing charities are working on the issue. We must ensure that the injustice does not continue into another generation.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House believes that, with one in six adults functionally illiterate, the UK’s skills gap is preventing the country from fully realising its economic potential; understands that improved literacy rates not only have economic benefits but also have positive effects on an individual’s self-confidence, aspirations and emotional health and wellbeing ; notes that literacy rates for school leavers have shown little change in spite of initiatives introduced by successive governments over recent decades; understands that the social stigma attached to illiteracy and innumeracy often prevents adults from seeking the help they need, which means that signposting illiterate and innumerate adults to Further Education Colleges is not always the most effective course of action; recognises that literacy and numeracy programmes must be made easily accessible to the most hard-to-reach functionally illiterate and innumerate adults if valued progress is to be made; and calls on the Government to renew efforts to provide imaginative, targeted and accessible support to illiterate and innumerate adults.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. A senior member of the Government party in the other place said live on television at lunchtime that he believed that Royal Mail was significantly undervalued. Given that Royal Mail will enter the stock market system tomorrow and that taxpayers are set to lose out on anything from hundreds of millions to billions of pounds, is there any mechanism by which we could bring the Minister or Secretary of State to the House to explain to the public why the undervaluing of Royal Mail could lose the taxpayer millions?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

That is not a point of order for the Chair, as there is no mechanism by which the Chair can decide Government business on the Floor of the House. I hesitate to suggest that the hon. Gentleman should write to the Minister, although there are Members on the Treasury Bench who have heard his comments. I am sorry to have to disappoint him by saying that that is not within the power of the Chair.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. We are introducing financial education in schools, which is an important development to make sure that people have the tools to make decisions, but it is also important to note that half of the people who take out a payday loan are already showing signs of financial stress. So although we need to tackle the problems of payday lending, we also need to tackle the problems that get people there in the first place, and make sure that they have good access to the free and confidential debt advice available. I encourage anyone in financial difficulty to seek help sooner rather than later.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

A recent report by the Office of Fair Trading accused payday lenders of causing “misery and hardship”. The Minister herself said that

“the scale of unscrupulous behaviour . . . and the impact on consumers is deeply concerning”

and that the Government

“wants to see tough action”.

Despite an amendment in the other place last year, to which my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) referred, to give the regulators the ability to curb costs, the Minister is still failing to act. The public will note with interest that a major donor to the Conservative party, Adrian Beecroft, has a significant interest in this industry. Is that what is holding the hon. Lady back from stronger regulation? She is in severe danger of becoming known as the Minister for APR.

[Jo Swinson]

The short answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question is no, because the Government are taking significant action. I think he misunderstands; the OFT report shows the biggest set of problems in the industry. I know that much of the focus ends up on the APR headlines, but the surveys and the consumer organisations working with the issue day in, day out show the problems around issues such as affordability assessments, continuous payment authority abuse and abuse of the way in which roll-overs are used. The FCA has said specifically that it is looking to plug any gaps in regulation in all those areas when it takes on the role of regulator next April. We do not have to wait very long to see its draft rule book, which will be published this September.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

Yes, it will, because Parliament put in place, in the Postal Services Act 2011, the statutory requirement for a universal postal service that is secured by Ofcom, an independent regulator, and that will exist irrespective of the ownership of Royal Mail.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

We very much support genuine employee ownership, especially for hard-working Royal Mail employees. However, we vehemently oppose this Government undermining employee ownership by attaching it to the Beecroft agenda of giving up rights at work. The Chancellor announced this policy by proclaiming:

“Workers of the world, unite!”

Well, they have: they have united against this policy, along with the Employee Ownership Association and the vast majority of responses to the consultation. The Minister is not listening to this large body of opinion, so may I press him again, following the question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson), to heed the advice of Conservative Lords Lawson, King, Forsyth and Gummer who voted yesterday, with a large majority of other Lords, to dump these divisive shares for rights policies?

[Michael Fallon]

I note that the hon. Gentleman wants to divert the House from the question about Royal Mail and the more interesting question of whether those on the Opposition Front Bench will support this opening up of Royal Mail to private capital and the scheme to ensure that those who work for the company will share in its success.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

No decision has yet been taken on the timing and size of any share sale. The key is to ensure that a big, successful company is no longer denied access to the capital markets.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

This week Royal Mail reported that it had selected a number of agencies to assist in the

“largest privatisation since British Rail”.

The Ofcom consultation, “End-to-end competition in the postal sector”, has stated that that is not relevant to its primary duty of protecting the universal service obligation as regards rival operators cherry-picking profitable Royal Mail work without having to meet its high standards of same-price, every-place, six-days-a-week delivery. What guarantees can the Minister give that Royal Mail’s service standards will not be put at risk? Does he share my deep concerns about Ofcom’s stance on end-to-end competition?