Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the number of employees who will benefit from the increase in national minimum wage rates in Edinburgh North and Leith constituency.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Approximately 200,000 employees in Scotland are expected to benefit from a direct pay rise due to the increases in the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in April 2025, according to the Government’s Impact Assessment. Constituency-level estimates are not available due to greater data reliability issues arising from low survey response rates.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to page 20 of the King’s Speech Background Briefing Notes, published by the Prime Minister's Office on 17 July 2024, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of people who will be affected by the proposals to ban exploitative zero-hour contracts (a) nationally and (b) in Edinburgh North and Leith constituency.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (for January to March 2024) suggest that around 1,030,000 people (representing 3.1% of total employment) were employed on a zero-hours contract in the UK.
Over the same period there were approximately 71,000 people (equating to 2.7% of total employment) employed on a zero-hours contract in Scotland.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to page 20 of the King’s Speech Background Briefing Notes, published by the Prime Minister's Office on 17 July 2024, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of people who will be affected by the proposals to deliver a genuine living wage (a) nationally and (b) in Edinburgh North and Leith constituency.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The minimum wage has been one of the most effective and successful policy interventions of the last 25 years. The Government is committed to delivering a genuine living wage for working people, and removing the discriminatory age bands, so that all adults can benefit.
The Low Pay Commission (LPC) will complete its April 2025 rate recommendations by the end of October 2024. The government will then announce the rates this Autumn and publish an impact assessment when the regulations are laid which will include estimates of the number of people who will benefit from the uprating. This approach will put more money in working people’s pockets to spend, boosting economic growth, resilience and conditions for innovation.