§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his Department's role in(a) the setting of the level of the minimum wage and (b) its administration; and if he will make a statement. [47418]
§ Mr. HainThe Government have accepted the Low Pay Commission's recommendations on the national minimum wage and the minimum wage will be implemented in April 1999. The Department will continue to play a full part in the decisions surrounding the national minimum wage and its administration.
Putting in place the national minimum wage is a key manifesto commitment, which, along with other measures such as the Working Families Tax Credit, and the tax benefits reform, forms part of the Government's strategy to promote work incentives and to "make work pay". It will remove the worst cases of exploitation in the workplace, which have no place in modern Britain/Wales.