Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the National Living Wage for the purposes of reducing levels of in-work poverty.

Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions engage regularly with their Ministerial counterparts in other Departments, taking a collective approach to the policies and interventions that can make a difference

This Government is committed to supporting low-paid families through a range of measures including through the National Living Wage which increased by 2.2% to £8.91 from April 2021. This means that the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage have increased by around £4,000 since this policy was announced in 2015. We have set a target for the National Living Wage to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, provided economic conditions allow.

With record vacancies, our focus is on helping people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible, based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.