HC Deb 26 July 2000 vol 354 cc691-2W
Mr. Sarwar

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the average take-home pay of workers benefiting from the National Minimum Wage(a) before the Budget in March and (b) following the measures announced in the Budget. [130956]

Dawn Primarolo

The Government are pursuing a comprehensive strategy to ensure that every individual shares fairly in the increasing prosperity of the nation. As a result of personal tax and benefit changes announced in Budget 2000 and previous Budgets, households will be, on average, £460 a year better off. Households with an individual in receipt of the National Minimum Wage will be, on average, £1,500 a year better off.

Mr. Cox

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) men and (b) women have benefited from the introduction of the national minimum wage to date. [132107]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 26 July 2000: I have been asked to reply to your recent question regarding the number of men and women who have benefited from the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (132107). I am replying in the absence of the National Statistician. Definitive estimates on the number of people that have been affected by the national minimum wage are not yet available. Currently available estimates for assessing the effect draw on data from both the New Earnings Survey and the Labour Force Survey, and recognise the particular value that each survey adds to the quality and analytical details that can be provided. However, the latest adjusted estimates are mainly based on data for the Spring (March-May) 1999 Labour Force Survey. The reference period spans the implementation date for the National Minimum Wage Act on 1 April 1999. This means adjusted estimates are unlikely accurately to measure the effect of this legislation since there are employees who could have been earning below the minimum wage rates in March 1999, before the law took effect. The currently available estimates for March-May 1999 were published in an Office for National Statistics (ONS) First Release on 14 October 1999 and show that the number of people earning below the minimum wage rates set in April 1999 had fallen significantly between 1998 and 1999. A copy of this first release is available in the House of Commons Library.