Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will increase the minimum rate of pay for apprentices from £2.68 per hour to £2.96 per hour.

This Government is fully committed to the National Minimum Wage set by the independent Low Pay Commission at a level that maximises the wages of the low paid without damaging their employment prospects by setting it too high.

We ask the Low Pay Commission to consider the evidence and recommend the National Minimum Wage rates, to achieve this.

This Government has accepted an above inflation increase in the NMW including an increase in the apprentice rate from £2.68 to £2.73. The increase will come into effect on 1 October 2014 and will provide low paid workers with the biggest cash increase in their pay packets since 2008.

The Low Pay Commission has judged that a higher increase in the minimum wage would risk damaging employment prospects for the lowest paid.