HC Deb 11 July 1966 vol 731 cc956-7
32. Mr. Winnick

asked the Minister of Labour what surveys have been undertaken by his Department into the problem of the low wage earners.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

Some information about low wage earners is available from the Ministry's annual Family Expenditure Survey. The survey is being expanded in order to cover a larger number of households and this will improve the information.

Mr. Winnick

Is it not a fact that there are 200,000 or 300,000 families in which the father earns less than he would receive if he were on National Assistance? Is my hon. Friend aware that many of us who support the incomes policy believe one of the most essential needs of such a policy is to help those people penalised by very low wages?

Mrs. Williams

I assure my hon. Friend: hat the Government are concerned about this group of workers. It is basically a question of how best to deal with the position in which they find themselves. The number of adult men with gross earnings of less than £10 a week has fallen by half in the last year—from 400,000 to 200,000. Although this is not good enough, it is a move in the right direction.

Mr. Ridley

Is the hon. Lady aware that under the Government's incomes policy there is evidence that this group of people has had smaller rises in earnings than the better-off people in the community? What sort of incomes policy is that?

Mrs. Williams

I find that an extraordinary supplementary question in view of the earlier questions raised about the wages councils which exist—[Interruption.] To be fair, the hon. Gentleman did not raise it, but many hon. Members on his side of the House were pressing us very hard. The wages councils are the best safeguard we have for the lower-paid workers.

Mr. Raphael Tuck

Does not my hon. Friend feel that it is high time that we had a national minimum wage?

Mrs. Williams

That is another question. If my hon. Friend would put down a Question I would be glad to deal with it.