Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of recent civil service pay freezes on employee recruitment and retention.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Recruitment and retention data covering the period of the public sector pay pause is not currently held. In 2020/21, Civil Service turnover (includes all moves out of the Civil Service) was 5.9%.
In light of the pay pause, which was necessary in order to help protect public sector jobs and protect investment in public services, the Government ensured that the lowest paid across all of the public sector were protected. Anyone below a full time equivalent salary of £24,000 received an uplift of £250 or the new National Living Wage rate, whichever was greater. This was c.128,000 civil servants around the time the pay pause was announced in November 2020.
As the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on October 27th 2021, the temporary public sector pay pause will be lifted. Pay awards will be made to public sector workers over the next three years as we return to a normal pay-setting process. It is for departments to monitor and consider their recruitment and retention challenges when determining future pay awards.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) companies pay their employees the minimum wage and that (b) police forces are able to enforce related legal standards.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. HMRC enforce the NMW and the National Living Wage (NLW) on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff, and HMRC won’t hesitate to take action to ensure that workers receive what they are legally entitled to and continue to crack down on employers who ignore the law. Since 2015 HMRC has secured over £115 million for more than 1.1 million workers.
HMRC considers all complaints from workers. If anyone thinks they are not receiving at least the minimum wage, they can contact Acas, in confidence, on: 0300 123 1100, or report their employer online here: www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-complaint.
Consequences for not complying with paying NMW can include fines of 200 per cent of the arrears, public naming and, for the most serious offences, criminal prosecution.
As well as investigating worker complaints HMRC also undertake proactive investigations (referred to as targeted enforcement) based on the identification of the risk of non-compliance with NMW legislation.
In addition to enforcement, HMRC also deliver a programme of education and upstream ‘Promote’ work designed to help businesses understand their obligations and encourage them to comply. This involves a range of activities to increase both employers’ and workers’ understanding of NMW rules including one-to-many letters, webinars, podcasts, and media campaigns.
Breaches of NMW legislation are normally a civil matter, but HMRC will refer the most serious cases to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) where HMRC identify an offence under Section 31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 involving obstruction, falsifying of documents, or wilful failure to pay workers the minimum wage.
HMRC may also refer NMW offences to the CPS for prosecution that form part of a pattern of suspected or potential criminality, for example, suspected tax fraud, or wider offences such as employing illegal workers.
However, prosecutions can cause delays in recovering arrears for workers and do not necessarily guarantee payment, and consequently, prosecution is reserved for the most serious non-compliance and is not necessarily the right approach in most cases.
HMRC continues to work with other agencies, including the police, on joint operations to tackle NMW underpayment, and other labour market risks, such as illegal working and modern slavery, for which those agencies are responsible.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) civil servants, (b) public servants in UK Shared Business Services and (c) private sector workers in Shared Services Connected Ltd work on shared services within the shared service matrix cluster.
Answered by George Freeman
The Matrix shared service cluster was introduced as part of the Government Business Services “Shared Services Strategy for Government” in March 2021. A programme team has been put in place to develop a business case and secure a budget for the implementation of the shared service centre for the cluster.
The current number of civil servants that work directly on transactional shared services is c.80.
UK Shared Business Services provide shared services, including to BEIS and DIT. The number of public servants in UK Shared Business Services is c.640.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what rate of interest is applied to refunds of public sector workers’ partner pension contributions if the pension holder retires without a partner, and (2) how much money has been refunded to such pension holders for each of the past ten years.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Partner pension contributions are refunded with interest to members of the Classic section of the PCSPS when they leave at or after age 60 with immediate payment of pension in full if they neither married nor entered a civil partnership throughout their service, or in part for members who have been married or in a civil partnership for part of their service. The interest rate applied is currently 0.25%.
Partner pension contributions can also be refunded in the 1981 Judicial Pension Scheme and the Judicial Pension Scheme 1993 (JUPRA). The interest rate applied in the 1981 Judicial Pension Scheme is 4% while the interest rates used in JUPRA follow those in the PCSPS.
Data on refunds in the PCSPS in the years from 2015 to 2021 (year to date) is as follows:
Year | Total paid as WPS refund |
2015 | £26,939,123.32 |
2016 | £30,835,627.79 |
2017 | £26,790,088.99 |
2018 | £25,628,031.08 |
2019 | £25,314,289.97 |
2020 | £20,698,765.32 |
2021 | £19,692,619.50 |
Refunds in years prior to 2015 occurred under a previous administrative arrangement and so data could only be collected to a longer timeline.
Similarly, administrators for the judicial pension schemes do not keep cumulative records of refunds awarded by year, and the second part of the question could thus only be answered to a longer timeline.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish (a) a full list of organisations covered by the public sector pay pause and (b) the criteria used to determine which organisations should be covered by that pay pause.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The public sector pay pause announced at the Spending Review 2020 covers most of the major public sector workforces; Police, Prison officers, School-teachers, Armed forces, National Crime Agency, Senior Civil Service, Civil Service and Judiciary.
Given the unique impact of Covid-19 on the health service, and despite the challenging economic context, the government will continue to provide for pay rises for over 1 million NHS workers. The government will also prioritise the lowest paid, with 2.1 million public sector workers earning less than £24,000 receiving a minimum £250 increase.
In order to ensure fairness and consistency of approach, HM Treasury
expects other public sector employers not covered by the Pay Review Body process or the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance, including public corporations and other employers where there is less central oversight of annual pay awards, to respect and comply with the pay pause. Departments and employers should consult the Office for National Statistics classification guidance to confirm whether they are classified as within the public sector.
Pay for Local Government workers and Devolved Administrations is set independently of Central Government and therefore the pause will not directly apply.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) illegal levels of pay, (b) furlough fraud, (c) double record keeping and (d) VAT fraud in Leicester’s garment Industry.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC enforce the National Minimum and National Living Wage (NMW) in line with the law and policy set out by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
All businesses, irrespective of size or sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. Consequences for not complying with paying NMW can include penalties of 200% of the arrears, public naming and, for the worst offences, criminal prosecution.
Breaches of NMW legislation are normally a civil matter, but the most serious cases involving obstruction, falsifying of documents by, for example, creating a second set of ‘compliant records’ or wilful failure to pay workers the minimum wage that form part of a pattern of wider criminality may be referred to HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service and subsequently to the Crown Prosecution Service who decide whether or not to prosecute.
Since 2012-13, HMRC’s NMW team has investigated 150 textile trade employers (59 employers in Leicester), recovering over £215,000 in wage arrears for over 400 workers and issued over £325,000 of penalties to employers.
As a result of the widespread allegations about labour exploitation in Leicester this year, a new multi-agency taskforce (Operation Tacit) led by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) has been set up to bring together the enforcement bodies (HMRC, Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (BEIS), Leicestershire Police, National Crime Agency, Leicester City Council, Department for Work and Pensions and Home Office Immigration Enforcement).
Across tax and the NMW, HMRC have a significant number of live investigations involving businesses in the textile sector (over 90 NMW investigations and over 30 tax investigations), a large majority of which relate to Leicester. In 2019/20 HMRC completed 25 separate investigations into the VAT affairs of businesses in the textile trade in Leicester alone and in doing so recovered more than £2 million of tax that would otherwise have been lost and facilitated 21 director disqualifications relating to the textile sector.
HMRC are also taking steps to counteract those seeking to abuse the COVID-19 support schemes. In line with other “payment-out” regimes, HMRC undertake pre-payment authentication and risking to identify and block fraudulent claims. HMRC also carry out proportionate risk-based post-payment compliance checks to test the accuracy of claims they receive. HMRC are able to retrospectively audit all aspects of the COVID-19 schemes, with scope to claw back fraudulent or inaccurate claims, applying their existing compliance approaches.
HMRC take seriously and review all complaints from workers referred by the Acas helpline, or received via the online complaints form, and investigate as appropriate. If anyone thinks they are not receiving at least the minimum wage, they can contact Acas, in confidence, on 0300 123 1100 or submit a query online using the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pay-and-work-rights-complaints.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many prosecutions for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage there have been (a) in total since 2010 and (b) in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC enforce the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) in line with the law and policy set out by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. HMRC will not hesitate to take action to ensure that workers receive the pay to which they are legally entitled.
A majority of NMW cases relate to civil (non-criminal) offences, which attract penalties of up to 200% of the identified wage arrears and public naming.
Alongside civil sanctions, HMRC have a clear approach for how they consider prosecutions in appropriate cases involving potential criminal breaches in the most serious cases.
Where potential criminality has occurred, HMRC refer these cases to the Crown Prosecution Service who decide whether or not to prosecute.
Since 2010-11 HMRC have completed nearly 25,000 NMW investigations, identifying over £100 million in national minimum wage arrears for over 950,000 workers. During this period, HMRC investigations have also led to the successful prosecution of 8 employers for NMW related offences. A yearly breakdown of NMW prosecutions is included in the table below.
Year | Number of prosecutions |
2010/11 | 1 |
2011/12 | 0 |
2012/13 | 1 |
2013/14 | 0 |
2014/15 | 0 |
2015/16 | 0 |
2016/17 | 4 |
2017/18 | 1 |
2018/19 | 0 |
2019/20 | 1 |
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what additional steps his Department is taking to secure prosecutions for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC enforce the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) in line with the law and policy set out by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. HMRC will not hesitate to take action to ensure that workers receive the pay to which they are legally entitled.
A majority of NMW cases relate to civil (non-criminal) offences, which attract penalties of up to 200% of the identified wage arrears and public naming.
Alongside civil sanctions, HMRC have a clear approach for how they consider prosecutions in appropriate cases involving potential criminal breaches in the most serious cases.
Where potential criminality has occurred, HMRC refer these cases to the Crown Prosecution Service who decide whether or not to prosecute.
Since 2010-11 HMRC have completed nearly 25,000 NMW investigations, identifying over £100 million in national minimum wage arrears for over 950,000 workers. During this period, HMRC investigations have also led to the successful prosecution of 8 employers for NMW related offences. A yearly breakdown of NMW prosecutions is included in the table below.
Year | Number of prosecutions |
2010/11 | 1 |
2011/12 | 0 |
2012/13 | 1 |
2013/14 | 0 |
2014/15 | 0 |
2015/16 | 0 |
2016/17 | 4 |
2017/18 | 1 |
2018/19 | 0 |
2019/20 | 1 |
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 18 February (HL1258), why they described those National Service workers employed by Segen engineering as “civilian”; whether those workers were recruited through national military conscription in Eritrea; and how they categories which workers are (1) civilians, and (2) part of the military.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Eritrean Government has justified civilian and military national service on grounds of the security threat posed by Ethiopia, but we have yet to see concrete proposals for reform following the peace declaration. According to our information, every Eritrean young person completes their 12th and final year of school at the national service military training centre at Sawa where they do both military training as well as academic study. At the end, they take exams which leads to some going to college, some receiving vocational training, while others join government ministries or the military. All jobs in Eritrea in the public sector are done by Eritreans on national service, and these include the civil service, teachers, doctors, construction and the military. Sustainable reform of national service needs to happen in tandem with improvements to the economic situation and job creation. We will continue to monitor the situation.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they are seeking to encourage remote working in the public sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government has been clear that people should work from home wherever possible. This applies to all workers, including those in the public sector, whilst recognising that many public sector workers continue to risk their lives in the service of their communities.
In the Civil Service, departments have been issued with working from home guidance as well as a practical working from home toolkit. This includes information on the safe and secure use of technology and data as well as advice on wellbeing, mental health and staying connected. Departments are creating their own guidance packages specific to their employees and are encouraging employees, their line managers and teams to have regular conversations during this period.
NHS England wrote to Chief Executives of all NHS trusts and providers of health services in March and April, asking that they continue to make adjustments, including allowing remote working where appropriate. All NHS secondary care providers now have access to video consultation technology to deliver some clinical care without the need for in-person contact. General practice has moved from carrying out around 90% of consultations as face-to-face appointments to managing more than 85% of consultations remotely.
To support the hard work of schools in delivering remote education, the Oak National Academy launched on 20 April - a brand-new enterprise created by 40 teachers from some of the leading schools across England, backed by government grant funding.