Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of people in the UK currently being paid the under-25 rate of the National Living Wage.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Through the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, the Government ensures that the lowest paid in our society are fairly rewarded for their work. Workers are entitled to different rates depending on their age. For those under the age of 25, the rates are set as high as possible without damaging their employment prospects.
Workers aged 25 or over should be paid at least the National Living Wage (currently £7.83 an hour). Younger workers are entitled to one of the following National Minimum Wage rates: the 21-24 year old rate (currently £7.38 an hour), the 18-20 year old rate (£5.90) or the 16-17 year old rate (£4.20). Additionally, apprentices are entitled to the Apprentice rate (currently £3.70 an hour) either if they are aged under 19 or if they are aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship.
In April 2018, those entitled to the 21-24 age rate saw the fastest percentage increase since 2006. Similarly, those entitled to the 18-20 age rate saw the fastest increase since 2004. The 16-17 rate had the fastest increase since 2008.
The independent Low Pay Commission estimate there were 326,000 young workers paid the National Minimum Wage rates in April 2018. The Government will increase all of the minimum wage rates in April 2019, benefiting an estimated 417,000 young workers.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
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 number of prosecutions for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage (a) overall since 2010 and (b) for each year since 2010.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to enforcement of the minimum wage. We have increased HMRC’s annual minimum wage enforcement budget to £26.3 million, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16. In 2017/18, HMRC took action against more than 1,000 businesses, identifying £15.6 million of pay arrears for workers and levying financial penalties of £14 million.
Since the beginning of 2010 there have been a total of seven prosecutions for breaches of National Minimum Wage law. These are itemised by year in Annex C of the following published document: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/742668/nmw-nlw-enforcement-compliance-report-2018.pdf
HMRC refer cases to the Crown Prosecution Service, who ultimately decide whether to prosecute. HMRC’s priority is to ensure that workers receive the money they are owed. Criminal sanctions against companies can mean that workers end up waiting longer for their lost earnings to be paid back.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the participation of BAME women in the labour market.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In October 2018, my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced a package of measures to make the workplace fairer for people from ethnic minorities, including a Race at Work Charter.
Developed jointly by the Government and Business in the Community (BITC), the new Race at Work Charter commits businesses to a bold set of principles and actions designed to drive forward a step-change in the recruitment and progression of ethnic minority employees.
The Prime Minister also announced a consultation on mandatory ethnicity pay reporting by employers with more than 250 employees, to help tackle burning injustices in society and build a society that works for everyone. The consultation closed on 11 January 2019.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether additional funding will be made available to the Competitions and Market Authority to fulfil its new role in the enforcement of state aid rules.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government provided the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with £20 million in HM Treasury’s autumn budget for 2019/20. This will ensure the CMA has the resources to prepare for EU exit, and includes funds to fulfil its new role in the enforcement of State aid rules. This funding is in addition to the £23.6m allocated for 2018/19, which specifically included £3.3m provision for the CMA to prepare for its State aid function.
The Government is working with the CMA to ensure they are ready to deliver a robust and independent State aid regulatory function at the point it is required and has every confidence in the CMA’s ability to do so.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on what date the Government was made aware that Hitachi was considering withdrawing from the Wylfa Newydd project.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government received notification of the Hitachi board decision on 17 January.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department holds statistics on the number of stores that closed in each quarter in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not carry statistics on the number of stores closing in each quarter.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many solar-based projects were on the Renewal Energy Planning Database in each quarter of the last five years.
Answered by Claire Perry
Solar projects recorded on the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) in each quarter since 2014 are in the following table. Please note that the management of the REPD changed in October 2014 and the historical data for 2013 and 2014 Q1 is not available.
As part of the new contract for administering the REPD at the start of Q4 2014, the data parameters were changed to increase the minimum installed capacity from 0.001MW to 1MW. Therefore, the data shown from Q4 2014 onwards includes only those schemes with an installed capacity 1MW or above until Q4 2018 when projects over 150kW started to be included.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate it has made of the amount of money spent by businesses in the 4th Quarter of 2018 on preparing for leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government continues to prioritise work on achieving a good deal for the UK. BEIS is in regular contact with sectors and business stakeholders to ensure we understand their concerns.
We are working to ensure that UK businesses are as well informed and prepared for leaving the EU as possible and to advise them on the steps they may need to take to prepare for EU exit.
We have launched a public information campaign about how EU exit will affect businesses and the practical steps they will need to take to be ready. The campaign directs them to GOV.UK/euexit where they can easily find the latest advice and information on any aspect of leaving the EU which affects them and outlines the steps they need to take.