Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices, published on 11 July 2017, and the Government response to the Taylor review, published on 7 February 2018, how many employers have been prosecuted for abusing interns’ rights, and how many prosecutions are being prepared.

The existing legislation and enforcement are sufficiently robust to ensure that workers undertaking work experience or internships should get the minimum wage to which they are legally entitled. HMRC have contacted over 3,200 employers advertising unpaid internships to ensure they are compliant with the law. Where HMRC come to the view that the arrangements constitute “work” under National Minimum Wage regulations, they will require the employer to pay any arrears to the worker, in addition to penalties of up to 200% of the arrears.