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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the 700 employers "named and shamed" by them since October 2013 for failing to pay the minimum wage, how many were prosecuted; of those, how many prosecutions were successful; and what steps they plan to take to increase the number of prosecutions.

The National Minimum Wage naming and shaming scheme represents the end point of civil sanctions against employers who fail to pay at least the appropriate rate of minimum wage to their workers. Where there is evidence that an offence has been committed the case will always be considered for criminal investigation which may in turn result in prosecutions. But criminal investigations are reserved for the most serious cases of non-compliance.

Our number one priority is getting workers the money they are owed and the civil route is more successful in achieving this. Criminal investigations by HM Revenue & Customs and prosecutions by the Crown Prosecution Service will not necessarily result in arrears of wages being paid back to the workers. This would require further civil prosecutions following the Courts’ ruling.

Under the civil route, employers are not only faced with reputational consequences, but also face a financial penalty for breaking the law.