Oral Answers to Questions

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is right that if we are to sustain real increases in wages whether at the minimum level or above, there have to be productivity increases and many of the problems in the low-paid sectors like catering and care are to do with the fact that productivity levels are very low. I gather, for example, that in some of the lowest paid sectors the minimum wage is already 90% of the median. That reflects the low productivity in those industries.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

21. With families £1,600 a year worse off, has the Secretary of State got any plans to follow Labour’s lead and incentivise employers to pay the living wage?

[Vince Cable]

We have already made it clear that we would encourage companies to pay the living wage if they could afford it, but we need to be very clear that this is not a mandated system. Indeed, the Low Pay Commission has expressed considerable care in its recommendations to be sure that in promoting a higher level of wages at the bottom, which we want to see, we do not force large numbers of workers out of work.