To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what initiatives he plans to take to strengthen the work of the wages councils in relation to the enforcement of wage levels.

The level of compliance with wages orders is very high and no new initiatives are contemplated.

Does the Minister accept that increasing numbers of people are now unprotected and working for a pittance? Does he not accept that the work of wages councils is supported by responsible employers and responsible employers' organisations? Will he not extend the work of wages councils to deal with irresponsible employers, including those who seem to have the ear of the Government?

No. Obviously that is one of the views that has been put to the Government in the review of the wages councils. There is also a substantial body of evidence that the effect of organisations such as the wages councils is to destroy jobs. At the end of the day, the hon. Gentleman has to consider whether low pay is better than no job.

What effect would the social charter, aptly named in one of today's newspapers as the strikers' charter, have on the bureaucratic interventions which my hon. Friend has done so much to do away with?

Its effect would certainly not be beneficial.