If I may, I shall come on to that point later. As I was saying, the board cannot set the same rate as the national minimum wage because that would look too simplistic, so the rate is set at 2p more. Last year—surprise, surprise—it was also set at 2p above the national minimum wage. Next year, if the board still exists, I would hazard a guess that the rate will be set at 2p more. This is hardly rocket science.
Recent research shows that the average earnings of full-time farm workers are 40% higher than the rate set by the board and that in 2010, some 90% of farm workers received more than the grade 2 minimum. The conclusion must be that farm workers are paid well over the minimum set by the board. I have talked largely about full-time employees, but what about temporary workers? I would argue that they are and will be protected by the national minimum wage.
Apart from some noble Lords opposite, who does not want to see the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board? It is the union, Unite, which is deploying scare tactics by saying that without the board farm workers will see reductions in their pay with only the national minimum wage to protect them. That is quite clearly rubbish. Going back to my employee on £16,000 a year, if the board goes, am I really going to reduce his pay to the level of the national minimum wage; that is, £11,300? I am not going to do so because he
would not accept a drop in salary of some £4,700 and he would leave. That action would disrupt my business because I would have to interview new applicants, train the new person, and probably have to pay the new worker £16,000 to entice him to move from his existing job. It is highly likely that all existing employment terms and conditions will remain exactly the same as my noble friend the Minister has said, in spite of—