If he will make a statement on the impact of the minimum wage in Cleethorpes. The national minimum wage has also helped to close the gap between the highest and lowest earners, and to reduce the differential between men's and women's pay, both in Cleethorpes and throughout the United Kingdom. The national minimum wage, and the increase in it that will be made later this year, has given a real boost to eliminating poverty pay in Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Friend mentioned cases of employers who do not meet their obligations. Column 476 iceberg in some parts of the country.
Friend raises an important point.
The second report of the Low Pay Commission last year examined enforcement, and its authors were pleased, by and large, with the way it was operating. We have 14 teams of Inland Revenue officers around the country, dedicated to national minimum wage issues. Thanks to the Employment Relations Act 1999, they have access to returns for tax, national insurance and working families tax credit. The Low Pay Commission will re-examine the subject, and its conclusions will be included in volume 2 of its third report, which will be published in May. If workers are scared of their employers, and scared to enforce their rights, they have only to ring the helpline.