§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the impact of the national minimum wage in(a) Coventry, South, (b) the west midlands and (c) the United Kingdom. [109553]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonWe asked the independent Low Pay Commission to report on the impact of the introduction of the minimum wage and the Commission's report, with the Government's response, will be published shortly. Definitive estimates of the number of people who had benefited from the national minimum wage are not yet available. But the latest Office for National Statistics figures indicate that at least 700,000 employees in the United Kingdom, 70,000 of them in the west midlands, had already had their pay raised above the national minimum wage rates in spring last year. However, these data were gathered before the full effect of the new law had been felt (March-May 1999).
§ Mr. DobbinTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to review the level of the minimum wage; and if he will make a statement. [109576]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonI have made no decision on future changes to the level of the national minimum wage. The Government have always made it clear that there would be no automatic uprating mechanism for the national minimum wage. Any future changes to the national minimum wage rates will be made sensibly, taking account of the prevailing economic circumstances and feedback on the effects of the new law since April 1999. The Low Pay Commission's second report, which the Government will publish shortly, considers its impact in great detail.
§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many representations he has received in the last 12 months asking him to uprate the minimum wage annually in April. [109687]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonWe have received 11 representations in the past year requesting that the national minimum wage be uprated annually in April.