---

Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, this debate seems to have drifted into the area of wages. As we all know, the previous Government introduced the minimum wage and, more recently, a number of us have been talking about the living wage. On the other hand, a number of people do not even get the minimum wage. Are the Government concerned to ensure that the minimum wage conditions, at least, are enforced when considering what should be paid by way of benefits? There seems no reason why employers who pay very poor wages should be subsidised by the taxpayer, because we have to support those inadequate wages through the benefits system.