Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in each age group in (a) Leigh constituency and (b) Greater Manchester are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

I would add that the Government's National Living Wage was introduced in April 2016 for all working people aged 25 and over, and is set at £7.20 per hour. We have asked the Low Pay Commission to recommend the National Living Wage rate that should apply from April 2017, towards a target 60% of median earnings by 2020. By then, around 2.9 million people are expected to have had a pay rise, thanks directly to the National Living Wage. The Government recognises the important work undertaken by the Living Wage Foundation and we encourage employers to pay above the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage where it is affordable to do so.