Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many people working for his Department on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

James Brokenshire

My Department does not directly employ any members of staff on an hourly rate below that set by the Living Wage Foundation.

My Department currently employs 1 person on an agency basis. This person is not paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation for employees in this region.

In my Department there are 8 staff that are outsourced, 7 are paid less than the hourly Living Wage set by the Living Wage Foundation for employees in this region, but are paid above the minimum wage.

Of these none are employed on zero hours contracts.