Written question asked by John Lyons (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 March 2005. It was answered by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour) on Thursday, 10 March 2005 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what plans she has for (a) amendments to and (b) elimination of the development rate of the minimum wage.

Answer: Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has for (a) amendments to and (b) elimination of the development rate of the minimum wage. [220349] Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government continues to believe that the development rate of the minimum wage is necessary to help protect the employment prospects of young workers. As the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) said in her written statement to Parliament on 25 February 2005, Official Report, column 71WS, the Government have accepted the Low Pay Commission's recommendation in their 2005 Report that the development rate should be increased to £4.25 an hour in October 2005. However we have not accepted the Commission's recommendation that 21 year-old workers should be moved onto the adult rate, because the economic evidence on this point remains mixed. We therefore intend to make no change in 2005 but to look carefully at this issue in the future.

Secondary information