§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in(a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley have benefited from the minimum wage since its introduction. [149165]
§ Mr. SutcliffeIt is not possible to provide estimates specifically for Lancashire or Chorley. However based on the Office for National Statistics' low pay data released in 2003, the DTI estimates that around 140,000 people in the north west stood to benefit from the introduction of the national minimum wage in April 1999.
The DTI estimates that between 130,000 and 160,000 people in the north west benefited from the increase in minimum wage rates in October 2003.