Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff in his Department are working on minimum wage enforcement.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are responsible for enforcing the National Minimum Wage Regulations on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

We have almost doubled the enforcement budget for the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage to a record high of £26.3 million for 2018/19, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16. There are over 420 HMRC staff involved in the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.

BEIS has robust plans in place to manage delivery of EU exit. No BEIS officials have been redeployed from work on National Minimum Wage enforcement to work on preparations for the UK leaving the EU.