Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of the exploitation of unpaid trials in at-risk sectors.

Nick Boles

Entitlement to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) applies where someone meets the criteria of a worker. There is no legal or consistently-used definition of an internship and therefore no authoritative, single assessment of their prevalence, unpaid or otherwise. However, the Low Pay Commission 2015 Report on the National Minimum Wage sets out their findings from the evidence they have collated as well as research that they have commissioned to assess the prevalence of unpaid internships.

The Government works to promote high-quality, paid internships through improved codes of practice, awareness campaigns and changes to the BIS-sponsored Graduate Talent Pool. We also continue to tackle exploitation. The Government invested over £13m in 2015/16 to ensure enforcement of the NMW and we continue to name and shame employers who break minimum wage law.