Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when her Department plans to publish its next list of employers for National Minimum Wage breaches under the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone entitled to the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. This is why we have more than doubled the compliance and enforcement budget for the NMW and NLW to £27.4 million for 2019/20, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16.
I have reviewed the National Minimum Wage Naming scheme and the Department will shortly publish the outcome of that review. This will detail the changes we are making to the scheme to ensure its continued effectiveness as a deterrent to non-compliance. Following this, we will resume the naming of employers who breach NMW legislation.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when her Department plans to publish the outcomes of the review of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme announced in June 2019.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone entitled to the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. This is why we have more than doubled the compliance and enforcement budget for the NMW and NLW to £27.4 million for 2019/20, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16.
I have reviewed the National Minimum Wage Naming scheme and the Department will shortly publish the outcome of that review. This will detail the changes we are making to the scheme to ensure its continued effectiveness as a deterrent to non-compliance. Following this, we will resume the naming of employers who breach NMW legislation.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will make it her Department's policy to ban the use of unpaid work trials at the outset of employment in UK businesses.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Unpaid work trials that are excessive and not part of a genuine recruitment process are prohibited by National Minimum Wage legislation. It is simply wrong to exploit workers by setting up excessive unpaid trials. The law is clear that if someone is “working” for minimum wage purposes, they must be paid at least the National Minimum or National Living Wage.
The Government is committed to ensuring that all employers pay their workers correctly. HMRC consider all worker complaints and will take enforcement action in any cases of abuse.
BEIS published guidance in December 2018 clarifying that unpaid work trials are not permissible if they are excessive or not part of a genuine recruitment process. They can, however, play an important role in helping people into work opportunities, if used correctly.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps she is taking to ensure there is agreement between (a) Asda’s owners, (b) Asda’s employees and (c) trade unions on the terms of the new deal, known as Contract 6, being offered by Asda to its employees.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Government has regular engagement with retailers.
A legal framework exists which ensures that employers should always treat their employees fairly.
In general, the terms and conditions of employment are for negotiation and agreement between employers and employees (or their representatives). Once agreed, however, they form a legally binding contract of employment. While it is always open to either party to seek to renegotiate the terms of the contract, if the employer changes any of the terms without the employee’s agreement, the employee may be entitled to seek legal redress.
Both employers and employees are strongly encouraged to follow the guidance available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/your-employment-contract-how-it-can-be-changed when considering changing their terms and conditions of employment.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of Brighton and Hove City Council’s public consultation on the scale of unpaid work trials; and if her Department will undertake a similar consultation at a national level.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that all employers pay their workers correctly. HM Revenue and Customs considers all worker complaints and will take enforcement action in any cases of abuse.
We have clarified through guidance that unpaid work trials are not permissible if they are excessive or not part of a genuine recruitment process. They can play an important role in helping people into work opportunities.
The Government will consider the results of Brighton and Hove City Council’s public consultation once the consultation is concluded.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will make it her Department's policy to centrally record the number of workers underpaid through work trials.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that all employers pay their workers correctly. We have increased the annual budget for National Minimum Wage (NMW) compliance and enforcement to £27.4m; more than doubling the level of resources since 2015/16.
HMRC NMW enforcement data records the reasons for employers’ failure to pay the correct minimum wage; this includes the broader category of unpaid working time. No estimate has been made of the number of people who have undertaken unpaid work trials in 2018-19.
“Calculating the Minimum Wage” guidance is kept under review and updates are published as required to ensure that employers are aware of their obligations and are able to comply with minimum wage legislation. Guidance relating to work trials was most recently updated in December.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have undertaken unpaid work trials in 2018-19.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that all employers pay their workers correctly. We have increased the annual budget for National Minimum Wage (NMW) compliance and enforcement to £27.4m; more than doubling the level of resources since 2015/16.
HMRC NMW enforcement data records the reasons for employers’ failure to pay the correct minimum wage; this includes the broader category of unpaid working time. No estimate has been made of the number of people who have undertaken unpaid work trials in 2018-19.
“Calculating the Minimum Wage” guidance is kept under review and updates are published as required to ensure that employers are aware of their obligations and are able to comply with minimum wage legislation. Guidance relating to work trials was most recently updated in December.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
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 guidance, Calculating the Minimum Wage, if she will make it her Department's policy to review and update the guidance on unpaid work trials.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that all employers pay their workers correctly. We have increased the annual budget for National Minimum Wage (NMW) compliance and enforcement to £27.4m; more than doubling the level of resources since 2015/16.
HMRC NMW enforcement data records the reasons for employers’ failure to pay the correct minimum wage; this includes the broader category of unpaid working time. No estimate has been made of the number of people who have undertaken unpaid work trials in 2018-19.
“Calculating the Minimum Wage” guidance is kept under review and updates are published as required to ensure that employers are aware of their obligations and are able to comply with minimum wage legislation. Guidance relating to work trials was most recently updated in December.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
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 make it Government policy to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 in accordance with the recommendations of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
This Government has significant concerns about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and we continue to raise this important issue in discussions with key partners. We judge that it is not necessary to meet future European demand for gas and could harm European energy security and the interests of Ukraine. This is one of the reasons why we supported amendments to the EU Gas Directive that will require the pipeline to be fully compliant with EU rules. While we are an EU member state, the UK will continue to be bound by EU sanctions, which do not currently encompass Nord Stream 2.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
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 make it his Department's policy to restore immediately the policy of naming of employers for National Minimum Wage breaches whilst the review of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme is ongoing.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As announced in the Government response of December 2018, the review of the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage (NMW) Naming Scheme commenced in response to recommendations made by the Director of Labour Market Enforcement in his 2018/2019 Labour Market Enforcement Strategy. Naming of employers for NMW breaches will recommence once that review has been completed.
We are reviewing the effectiveness of the naming scheme to ensure that our enforcement approach balances the need to crack down on the most egregious non-compliant employers with the need to help employers understand their responsibilities and how to comply.
Naming remains an important part of our enforcement toolkit. Enforcement of the national minimum wage and the national living wage is a priority for this Government to ensure that workers receive at least the Minimum Wage. We have more than doubled the budget for minimum wage compliance and enforcement since 2015, to a record high of £27.4 million. This resulted in over 220,000 UK workers receiving a record £24.4 million in arrears last year.