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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the finding by the British Retail Consortium that workers in Leicester's apparel manufacturing industry are underpaid by over £2.1 million a week, what steps his Department is taking to enforce UN guiding principles on business and human rights in respect of the duty of employers to remedy human rights violations in respect of underpaid wages in that industry in (a) Leicester and (b) the rest of the UK.

The UK supports the United Nations Guiding Principles on business and human rights, the authoritative voluntary international framework to steer practical action by Governments and businesses worldwide.

The UK was the first state to produce a national action plan to respond to the UN Guiding Principles. The Plan sets out how the UN Guiding Principles are applied in the UK and expectations of UK businesses’ conduct, including that they comply with relevant laws and respect internationally recognised human rights.

In the UK, the right to just and favourable remuneration for work is protected by National Minimum Wage legislation, which is enforced by the HMRC National Minimum Wage team. All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff, and consequences for not complying with paying NMW can include fines of 200% of the arrears, public naming and, for the worst offences, criminal prosecution. HMRC follows up on every worker complaint it receives, even those which are anonymous.

HMRC are an active participant in the multiagency taskforce which is responding to allegations of non-compliance in the Leicester garment sector and has undertaken joint operations with partner agencies in Leicester for a number of years. They have historically investigated more than 150 textile businesses, including multiple employers operating in Leicester; and have opened a significant number of investigations in Leicester since 1 July 2020.

HMRC continues to take proactive steps in this industry. They have written to over 18,000 workers in the textile sector flagging their entitlement to minimum wage, common causes of underpayment and encouraging confidential reporting of employers and have written to over 2500 employers in the sector highlighting the main risks which lead to NMW underpayment.