§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of people who will benefit from the introduction of the national minimum wage in(a) the Tamworth constituency, (b) Staffordshire and (c) the West Midlands. [75737]
§ Ms HewittThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Brian Jenkins, dated 9 March 1999:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on the number of people who will benefit from the introduction of the proposed national minimum wage (NMW).The New Earnings Survey (NES) can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. However, the release of NES data is restricted to figures that are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and have an acceptable level of accuracy. Accordingly, no estimates for the parliamentary constituency of Tamworth can be givenEstimates of the proportion of people who are currently earning below the proposed minimum wage for a range of geographical areas have been placed in the House of Commons Library under the title of New Earnings Survey 1998—National Minimum Wage Distribution Tables. These include available information for Staffordshire and the West Midlands. The tables provide an historical position against the 1998 values of the proposed NMW, and make no judgement on whether its introduction will have any effect on the number of jobs.