Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of non-compliance with the (a) national living wage and (b) national minimum wage in the (i) garment and (ii) social care industry.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Government has made clear its commitment to crack down on worker exploitation across all sectors of the labour market and welcomes the Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2018 -19.
There is significant crossover and alignment between this strategy and the government's response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices and subsequent consultations. The Government will publish a response to the Director of Labour Market Enforcement's strategy later this year, once the consultations have closed and the government has considered the responses.
Estimates of the number of jobs paid below National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage by Low Pay Sector (as defined by the Low Pay Commission) are available in Chart 3 on page 10 of the 2017 Government evidence to the LPC report- https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630197/nmw-nlw-lpc-evidence-compliance-enforcement-2017.pdf.
These estimates are derived from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2016; and it should be noted that some textile and clothing occupations are included in the ‘Non-Low Paying Sectors’ category.
The Government will publish new evidence to the Low Pay Commission containing ASHE 2017 estimates of jobs below minimum wage rates and enforcement stats for 2017/18 later this year.
HMRC works closely with other government departments and agencies to tackle National Minimum Wage non-compliance and wider labour market risks, including in the garment and fashion manufacturing industry.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to make leading brands jointly responsible for non-compliance with the national living wage within their supply chains.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Government has made clear its commitment to crack down on worker exploitation across all sectors of the labour market and welcomes the Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2018 -19.
There is significant crossover and alignment between this strategy and the government's response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices and subsequent consultations. The Government will publish a response to the Director of Labour Market Enforcement's strategy later this year, once the consultations have closed and the government has considered the responses.
Estimates of the number of jobs paid below National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage by Low Pay Sector (as defined by the Low Pay Commission) are available in Chart 3 on page 10 of the 2017 Government evidence to the LPC report- https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630197/nmw-nlw-lpc-evidence-compliance-enforcement-2017.pdf.
These estimates are derived from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2016; and it should be noted that some textile and clothing occupations are included in the ‘Non-Low Paying Sectors’ category.
The Government will publish new evidence to the Low Pay Commission containing ASHE 2017 estimates of jobs below minimum wage rates and enforcement stats for 2017/18 later this year.
HMRC works closely with other government departments and agencies to tackle National Minimum Wage non-compliance and wider labour market risks, including in the garment and fashion manufacturing industry.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to implement the recommendations of the UK Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2018-19.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Government has made clear its commitment to crack down on worker exploitation across all sectors of the labour market and welcomes the Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2018 -19.
There is significant crossover and alignment between this strategy and the government's response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices and subsequent consultations. The Government will publish a response to the Director of Labour Market Enforcement's strategy later this year, once the consultations have closed and the government has considered the responses.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to consult on draft secondary legislative proposals to require quoted companies to report annually on the pay ratio between their CEO and the average worker.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Government’s Corporate Governance Reform green paper consultation invited views on the option of requiring quoted companies to report on the pay ratio between their CEO and the average worker. In its response to the consultation, published on 29 August 2017, the Government announced that it would legislate to introduce pay ratio reporting as part of a wider set of corporate governance reforms.
The detail of the pay ratio reporting provision has been developed since then. This has included two phases of informal consultation with a balanced range of stakeholders. The secondary legislation needed to implement pay ratio reporting, and the other new corporate governance reporting requirements announced last year, will be laid in Parliament this summer.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the planned timetable is for the establishment of a public register of beneficial ownership information for companies and other legal entities outside of the UK that own or buy property in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
A Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS425) was published on 24 January 2018 confirming the timetable for the establishment of a public register of beneficial owners of non-UK entities that own or buy property in the UK or participate in UK Government procurement. The Government will publish a draft Bill before the summer recess this year and intends to introduce the Bill to Parliament early in the second session. Following Royal Assent and the making of secondary legislation, the Government intends that the register will be operational in 2021.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for (i) his Department and (ii) agencies of his Department are paid less than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
As at 1 April 2018 there are no direct employees in the core department paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
As at this date there are also no agency staff paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
We do not centrally hold details of the pay levels of staff working for outsourced companies contracted by BEIS.
I have asked Chief Executives of the executive agencies to respond directly to the Hon. Member.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Government’s policy is on onshore wind farming; and what plans he has to encourage growth in that sector when implementing the Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government’s policy is clear on onshore wind farming: that we do not believe that new large scale onshore wind power is right for England but in other areas where there is public support it can be developed. Further deployment in this sector is expected, supported by existing Government schemes such as the Contracts for Difference (CfD), and Feed In Tariff (FIT) which will aid delivery of cheap, clean and reliable energy in line with the aims of the Industrial Strategy.
The Government has also secured state aid approval to classify remote island wind as a separate technology in Group 2 of the CFD scheme. The Clean Growth Strategy announced that we would provide up to £557m in total of annual funding for future CFD auctions. We have consulted on how the Government could support the development of onshore wind projects on remote islands, where they benefit local communities, and are currently considering the responses we have received.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's policy is on consumers' rights to request a refund if they were not made aware that they were on an auto-renewal contract for subscription-based services.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 makes clear that terms and conditions need to be prominent and transparent, when a business offers a subscription service or other long-standing rolling type of agreement otherwise they are open to challenge.
Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs), traders must from the outset provide consumers with clear and important information in relation to subscription charges and renewal information, so that they can make an informed decision. Automatic renewals without sufficient reminders can be deemed as unfair terms.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) merits and (b) costs of introducing a cap of £5,000 rather than £2,500 on landlord contributions to domestic private rented sector energy efficiency schemes.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department is currently consulting on proposals to introduce a landlord funding contribution element to the domestic Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015. A consultation stage impact assessment of the policy options under consideration was published alongside the consultation paper. The impact assessment sets out the benefits and costs of landlord contributions capped at £1,000, £2,500, £3,500 and £5,000. This includes an assessment of the number of homes meeting the minimum standard under the various cap options, the number of homes receiving measures up to the value of each cap but not reaching the minimum standard, the average cost of the measures per property, the savings on bills achieved by tenants, number of fuel poor households receiving measures, benefits to tenant health and other key factors.
Full details of the policy options under considerations and the complete consultation stage impact assessment are available via the gov.uk consultation hub.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will include in the Government's response to the Taylor Review provisions to ensure that low-paid workers on zero-hours contracts are aware of their entitlement to Universal Credit.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Government Response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices was published on 7 February this year, alongside four public consultations.
The Review did not focus specifically on Universal Credit, but did identified the difficulties people encounter relating to income insecurity when working atypical work patterns, such as on zero hours contracts.
Responsibility for ensuring all people, including those who work on zero hours contracts, are aware of their entitlement to Universal Credit is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions.