Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of labour costs on employers’ hiring decisions for entry-level roles.

The Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Act and this is available here: http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. Our analysis, supported by independent modelling and international evidence, deems the overall risk to employment to be low.

Evidence to date shows little or no significant impact on employment from past increases to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW).