Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to her Written Statement of 7 January 2020, Official Report HCWS20, whether an equality impact assessment was carried out when setting those national minimum wage rates.

This April, the Government will be increasing the National Living Wage by 6.2% to £8.72, meeting the Government’s target of reaching 60% of median earnings by 2020. Younger workers and apprentices will also see inflation beating increases in the NMW rates of between 4.6% and 6.5%. The Low Pay Commission estimates that these increases to the NMW and NLW will directly benefit over 2.8 million workers.

An equality impact assessment was carried out when setting these minimum wage rates. The evidence suggests that there will be disproportionate positive wage impacts on protected groups as a result of the proposed increase in the minimum wage rates. As in previous years, the equality impact assessment will be published within the Government’s full impact assessment in due course.