Mr. Vincent Jennings:

The Deputy's question about whether there are any quick fixes is very honest. The answer is no. There are things the Legislature and Government should do, and should not do. It is our money as employers that is paying wages. It is not the Government's money. Commitments should not be made in programmes for Government on a set increase for the national minimum wage by a certain date, when the Low Pay Commission, LPC, is charged with making only evidence-based recommendations. The LPC should not be charged with increasing the rate. It should be considering the evidence and, if there is sufficient evidence to merit and warrant those increases, it will so recommend. There have been times, and it is happening now, when the increases exceed those of inflation. That is what really upsets the employers. We are not mean people. We may be thrifty. We are told that our chance of recouping the entire moneys in additional wages will happen because of the increase we will get in our stock but that will not happen. We are now committed to pay from 1 January well above the rate of inflation in excess of the evidence and it seems, and this was reiterated recently, that the minimum wage will be rising and we will oversee that. Stop making comments about our money and allow the evidence to flow.

The Low Pay Commission in the United Kingdom has been operating for 18 years. There has never once been a minority report attached to it. It has always made recommendations in line with the expectation of inflation. It has always been unanimous. In this country we have had three reports with four minority reports attached. That goes to show there are serious difficulties in bedding down the LPC.