Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2015 to Question 2952, if he will make it his policy to secure accredited Living Wage Employer status for his Department from the Living Wage Foundation.

On 8 July 2015, this government became the first government to announce the introduction of a compulsory Living Wage. From April 2016, all employers will be required to comply with the new national Living Wage of £7.20/ph for those 25 and above, as set out in the Budget.

All direct employees of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are paid at a level of at least that recommended by the Living Wage campaign.

The FCO will be reviewing, with its contractors, the salary arrangements for staff providing contracted services to the Department ahead of the introduction of the compulsory Living Wage.