National Minimum Wage (Hansard, 23 July 2004)

§ Mr. Pope
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in Hyndburn have benefited from the national minimum wage. [181302]

§ Mr. Sutcliffe
It is not possible to provide estimates specifically for the constituency of Hyndburn. However, based on the Office for National Statistics' Low Pay data released in October 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. Between 130,000 and 160,000 people were expected to have benefited from the October 2003 uprating of the national minimum wage.

§ John Barrett
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the number of homeworkers being paid below the national minimum wage. [182415]

§ Mr. Sutcliffe
The DTI's full regulatory impact assessment on "Regulations to Introduce Fair Piece Rates for Output Workers, including Homeworkers", published in February 2004, estimated that employers of around 70,000 home workers have been in breach of the minimum wage regulations. As a result of the 2004 amendment introducing the new system of fair piece rates, the DTI estimates that a total of around 110,000 home workers stand to benefit in October 2004 as a result of both extended coverage of the minimum wage and greater compliance.
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§ John Barrett
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of people in employment she estimates are in receipt of the national minimum wage. [183111]

§ Mr. Sutcliffe
Based on the Office for National Statistics' Low Pay data released in October 2003, the DTI estimates that between 1.0 million (4.0 per cent. of those in employment) and 1.2 million UK workers (4.8 per cent. of those in employment) were expected to have benefited from the October 2003 uprating of the national minimum wage.