Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for his Department and its subsidiary agencies are paid less than the living wage.

No civil servants employed by the ‘core’ Department or its executive agencies: Public Health England and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency are paid less than the Living Wage.

In line with Cabinet Office advice, the Department and its executive agencies do not require their contracted companies to pay their employees the local Living Wage.

Currently, for agency staff (agency temps and contractors) working with the ‘core’ Department, six individual agency staff earn under the London Living Wage and one individual (an apprentice) earns under the National Living Wage. These are out of a total of 50 agency staff employed by the ‘core’ Department.

Similarly, the Department and its executive agencies have outsourced service providers on their premises that are also obliged to pay the National Minimum Wage but not obliged to pay the Living Wage.

Currently, staff working for outsourced service provider Compass number 34 individuals working in London on the Department’s catering contract, none of whom are paid below London Living Wage levels.

Currently, the number of staff working for outsourced service provider EMCOR who earn below London Living Wage is 109. EMCOR does not provide services to the Department outside the London area.