Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made a recent assessment of the implications for her policies of removing the (a) National Minimum Wage youth rate and (b) apprenticeship rate.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is an independent and expert body that makes annual recommendations to Government on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) . Every year, the LPC undertake extensive research and consultation and considers the wider impacts from changes to the minimum wage.

The youth labour market is more sensitive to economic shocks, and young people can be exposed to longer-term scarring effects of unemployment. So we’re rightly more cautious for this group and do not want to harm the young workers whom the policy is intended to benefit.

Finally, the Apprentice NMW is set at a rate which acknowledges the particular costs for employers and benefits for young people involved in providing apprenticeships.