Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answers of 16 November 2016, 3 March 2017, 12 September 2017 and 18 December 2017 to Questions 52385, 65376, 7533 and 118376, on Minimum Wage: Arrears, if he will publish the (a) sector and (b) size of the 169 employers who paid additional arrears, not included in the sum of arrears for which they were named and shamed, under the self-correction mechanism introduced by HM Revenue and Customs in 2015.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
A total of 169 employers were instructed to self-correct further arrears in naming rounds 10-13. The sectoral breakdown of those employers is presented in Table 1, below.
Table 1: Employers named under the National Minimum Wage naming scheme (rounds 10-13) and instructed to self-correct by the Low Pay Commission by sector
LPC Sector | No. of Employers instructed to self-correct |
Childcare | 6 |
Employment Agencies | 5 |
Hairdressing | 22 |
Hospitality | 41 |
Retail | 19 |
Social Care | 22 |
Non low paying sectors | 45 |
Other | 9 |
Total | 169 |
Notes
HM Revenue and Customs does not hold complete data on employer size, therefore a breakdown by size is not available.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government response to the First Report of the Women and Equalities Committee of Session 2016-17, Pregnancy and maternity discrimination, published on 26 January 2017, Cm 9401, when he plans to implement the Government's commitment to bring forward proposals to ensure that those protections in place for women who are pregnant or returning from maternity leave are sufficient.
Answered by Margot James
Protection already exists through the Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999. Where redundancy means that it is not practicable to continue to employ a woman on maternity leave under an existing contract, Regulation 10 requires an employer to offer appropriate alternative employment on terms which are not substantially less favourable. We are considering the implications of extending this right into the period when a new mother returns to work and into the period while she is pregnant and at work. In terms of initial consultation, we have also sought the views of the Alliance for Maternity Rights on other potential proposals.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support the Government is offering to the employees affected by the closure of some Homebase stores.
Answered by Margot James
We have mobilised Jobcentre Plus’s Rapid response Service to help workers get back into employment as soon as possible. This service is tailored to individuals’ needs and can include some or all of the following:
- Help with job searches, including CV writing and interview skills;
- Help to identify transferable skills and skills gaps, linked to the local labour market;
- Training to update skills, learn new ones and gain industry recognised certification that will improve employability;
- Help to overcome barriers to attending training, securing a job or self-employment, such as child care costs, tools, work clothes and travel costs.
It is worth noting that in June, Bunnings, the owner of Homebase, announced plans to create over 1,000 new jobs in the UK.