National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999 (Amendment) Regulations 2009

As the Minister will be aware, we on these Benches supported the introduction of the minimum wage and have been consistently supportive of the Government’s decisions in the 10 years since the minimum wage was introduced. Two issues were discussed at length when these regulations were considered in another place. The first, obviously, is tipping. We certainly support both what the Government have done and what the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, has indicated. Tipping vis-à-vis the minimum wage is not quite as straightforward an issue as it might seem on the surface because it has long been the practice in restaurants either to pool tips or to ensure that people who are not actually serving the meal receive a share of tips. People often say, "When we gave a tip in the restaurant we assumed that it would go to the waiter", and they sometimes ask the waiter whether he will receive the tip for the service. However, there are often perfectly legitimate reasons why the individual waiter or waitress has not received 100 per cent of the tip, because the chef and the maitre d’ will receive a share, as will those who do the washing up. That is a perfectly legitimate practice. The regulations need to ensure that that practice is not discontinued as a result of the minimum wage deduction. But I am sure that it will not be, because properly run restaurants have been doing it for years while paying their staff properly. The second issue which caused some debate in another place is the position that the Tory Party will take on the minimum wage should it get into government. The noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, may well indicate that that decision is slightly above his pay grade, or indeed his minimum wage grade; however, we on these Benches have watched with interest the change in the position that the Tory party has taken on this. It opposed the original Bill then, some years later, shifted its position when it was apparent that the minimum wage did not have the devastating effect on employers that the Tory Party had feared it might. We on these Benches have always indicated that we support the minimum wage. That is particularly so when the Government have been taking into account the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. It should not simply be a matter of a Minister saying, "We’ll put it up by x". Were that to be the case, particularly bearing in mind the relationship between this Government and the trade union movement, there would always be a suspicion that objectivity was being lost. I know that the Minister himself cannot answer that, and the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, has finished speaking in any event, but it would be interesting to know whether, were they to get into government, the Tories would support the continuation of the minimum wage, and whether they support the continuation of the Low Pay Commission.