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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many contracts procured by his Department and its arms-length bodies require that the contractor pays those of its employees undertaking the work contracted for the real living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation in each of the last three financial years.

The Department is currently in transition following the announcement of its formation in July last year and the bringing together of the functions of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) along with the business, industrial strategy and innovation functions of the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

DECC adopted the (real) Living Wage in 1 April 2014. This was not a contractual requirement but achieved by a contract variation negotiated with our facilities management supplier to enable them to pay two of their subcontractors (security and catering service providers) the higher rate of pay to their staff in scope. BIS has no contracts requiring the contractor to pay its employees the real Living Wage. The Department does not hold on information on this matter for the Department’s arms-length bodies.