§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many enforcement orders have been issued in respect of fair estimate agreements since the introduction of the National Minimum Wage Regulations; and what assessment she has made of the number of fair estimate agreements entered into in that period. [101254]
§ Alan Johnson[holding answer 6 March 2003]Since the Inland Revenue have kept details of homeworking cases centrally with its Virtual Homeworking Team (set up in October 2001) there have beer two cases where an enforcement notice has been issued where a fair estimate agreement was in place. The Revenue believe it is unlikely that other cases might have occurred prior to that.
The number of fair estimate agreements which individuals have entered into is not known, but anecdotal evidence indicates the take up is low. This is one of the reasons why we are consulting on making changes to these arrangements.