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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the details of their awareness-raising campaign to promote compliance with National Minimum Wage legislation as it relates to internships; what assessment they have made of the impact of HMRC's Promote programme on reducing the number of unpaid internships; and what other action they are taking to reduce the number of unpaid internships.

The Government launched a £1.75m communications campaign in January 2016, which aimed to raise awareness among employers and to encourage workers who are entitled to the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage – including interns - to check their pay. The campaign ran across radio, billboards, digital and print media and directed workers to a dedicated campaign website.

HMRC works with a broad range of employers, agents and worker groups to support compliance and raise awareness of worker rights through a combination of webinars, targeted mail shots, face to face contact, digital contact and project work with sector specific bodies. As part of their Promote programme, HMRC has written to employers who advertise unpaid internships, reminding them of their obligations to comply with NMW legislation.

Earlier this year, Matthew Taylor completed his independent review into the UK’s modern employment practices. The Government will give careful consideration to his recommendation to improve the interpretation of the law and to increase enforcement action relating to unpaid internships. We will respond in full later this year.