Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to increase the number of workers from ethnic minority backgrounds who are paid the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

The Government encourages employers to pay the Living Wage when it is affordable and not at the expense of jobs. However our primary policy for supporting the low paid is the National Minimum Wage (NMW) which is carefully set by the independent Low Pay Commission at a level that maximises their wages without damaging employment by setting it too high.

The NWW has benefitted all low paid workers across the UK, not just those from ethnic minority backgrounds. Since its introduction in 1999 it has increased faster than average earnings and inflation without an adverse impact on employment.

In addition to the NMW we are increasing the personal allowance for income tax, allowing workers to take home more of what they earn. From April 2015 changes to income tax will provide the average worker with an additional £800 to their pay packet and by then will have taken 3.2 million people out of tax altogether.