The Government takes the enforcement of National Minimum Wage very seriously and has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.

HMRC reviews every complaint that is referred to it, investigating the complaint and, in addition, carrying out targeted enforcement where we identify a high risk of non-payment of NMW.

HMRC record completed investigations but these do not include details of the numbers of visits. Some investigations may require several visits and others may be completed without any. HMRC completed 1455 investigations last year identifying record arrears of over £4.6 million. Full details for 2010 to 2014 are contained in the table below. We do not typically disclose results mid-way through a year; this is because the results have not been internally verified.

(a) Information on the number of liability orders that have led to a prosecution is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Figures on the number of prosecutions is published in table 17 (page 44) of the latest Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics, which contains data up to September 2014.

(b) Regulations to enable these new powers are due to be laid in Parliament in March 2015 with the intention being that they come into force by the end of the same month.

(c) Enforcement charges only relate to the 2012 Scheme, which opened to all applicants on 30 November 2013. We are not yet in a position to release full statistics on the 2012 Scheme, but when system data becomes available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, HMRC undertake targeted enforcement on employers across the United Kingdom who are more likely to be not paying NMW.

HMRC does not capture complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to Government regions, constituencies or county. Work relating to a specific geographical area is not always done by the NMW team based in that area. Additionally, notices of underpayment are issued to a company's head office address, but may include workers from a number of different operating sites.

The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, HMRC undertake targeted enforcement on employers across the United Kingdom who are more likely to be not paying NMW.

HMRC does not capture complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to Government regions, constituencies or county. Work relating to a specific geographical area is not always done by the NMW team based in that area. Additionally, notices of underpayment are issued to a company's head office address, but may include workers from a number of different operating sites.

In light of evidence that Stamp Duty Land Tax avoidance schemes were being widely marketed to businesses and to the public, the Government has taken clear and robust action. This can be seen in a twin approach to driving down SDLT avoidance – legislation to put beyond doubt that these schemes do not work, and wider measures which remove the advantage of delaying payment that those who seek to avoid tax gain over the great majority who pay the right amount at the right time. As a result of this Government’s intervention, SDLT avoidance schemes have largely disappeared and the number of individuals using such schemes has reduced by over 90%.

In 2013, the Government introduced legislation which makes it clear that the SDLT schemes being sold did not work. It also passed legislation which worked retrospectively, requiring users of the most popularly sold schemes to immediately amend their tax returns. This legislation applied to those who had still chosen to enter into schemes despite the Chancellor’s warning against the continuing use of SDLT avoidance in his budget speech of March 2012.

HMRC has consistently challenged the use of these schemes and does not believe that any of them actually achieves its aim of reducing the liability to SDLT. This view has been tested in a number of recent court hearings and HMRC has been successful in every case so far.

To further strengthen the anti-avoidance effort, the Government has introduced additional measures which make it harder for users of tax avoidance to delay paying what is due. From 2014, anyone who has used a scheme where a similar case has already been settled in the courts will be required to accept that ruling or face additional penalties on top of the tax and interest owing. And users of disclosable schemes where there is no such court decision will be expected to pay in advance the amount of tax that they are seeking to avoid while they await a final decision.

Under the revised Naming Scheme the Government will name all employers that have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU) unless employers meet one of the exceptional criteria or have arrears of £100 or less.

To date 3 employers have made successful representations against being named and 8 employers have not been named as they had arrears of £100 or less.

The Government has already named 55 employers. Between them they owed workers a total of over £139,000 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling over £60,000. We will be naming other employers that do not comply with National Minimum Wage regulations soon.

Anyone not receiving the minimum wage that they are legally entitled to should call the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368.

Councils are making a profit of £667 million a year from parking. That is unacceptable, so this Government are bringing forward a series of measures to make local parking fairer for residents and shoppers. This includes curtailing the use

of CCTV spy cameras, introducing grace periods, and giving local residents and firms new rights to demand a review of yellow lines and parking charges in their area.

What steps he is taking to stop unfair parking enforcement practices.

On my visit to my hon. Friend’s constituency, he was kind enough to show me Hertford road, which does not have a very easy trading environment. We have placed an obligation on local authorities to look after local businesses, and we know that that plays an enormously important part in people’s management of their shops. I would simply urge Enfield council to get together with local traders to ensure that people do not have to drive further and further from Enfield to do their shopping.

Over-zealous parking enforcement by these methods, and in particular by mobile cameras in Enfield’s Hertford road, is one of the most damaging practices to shops and shopkeepers, and the more so because Labour-controlled Enfield council is reducing the number of parking spaces. What advice does my right hon. Friend have for this council to put shoppers and high streets first?

I have a War Memorial hospital in my own constituency. My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) has been vocal in pressing local health authorities on this practice, which particularly affects people who are visiting patients who are in hospital for a long stay. It does not seem to be the most sensible way of raising funds.

Will the Secretary of State join me and many Congleton residents in objecting to proposals to introduce parking charges at Congleton War Memorial hospital for the first time? That plan is likely to increase, rather than decrease, local parking congestion, and rather than benefiting patients and their families it will in all likelihood benefit the car park charging company through aggressive fines.

HM Revenue and Customs enforces the National Minimum Wage for all workers and investigates every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights helpline. In addition, HMRC conducts pro-active enforcement in sectors or areas where there is a higher risk of workers not getting paid the legal minimum wage.

The Government is taking a tough approach towards employers that do not comply with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law, including through making their non-compliance public. 55 employers have been named so far and between them they owed workers a total of over £139,000 in arrears.

The Government has also increased the financial penalty percentage that employers pay for breaking minimum wage law from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the unpaid arrears owed to workers and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. This came into effect on 7 March 2014. We are introducing primary legislation so that the penalty can be calculated on a per worker basis.

Any worker who thinks they are not being paid what they are legally entitled to can call the Pay and Work Right Helpline on 0800 917 2368. Employers can also call the helpline for free advice if they are unsure of their obligations.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is active in assessing and tackling the risks of evasion, avoidance and error amongst large businesses. HMRC’s approach has enabled it to recover over £16billion in additional compliance revenues from large businesses between April 2012 and March 2014.

HMRCs compliance performance is measured using internal management information systems. This data is constructed from information derived from individual cases or activities within HMRC. These systems can be split into type of tax, but not into behaviour and customer group, as this is not a standard HMRC performance reporting metric.

The additional tax revenues collected from compliance activities by HM Revenue and Customs for each year since May 2010 is as follows.

*Note: the methodology for calculating additional tax revenues from compliance activity changed between 2010/11 and 2011/12, and so the figure of £13.9bn is not directly comparable to later years.

HMRCs compliance performance is measured using internal management information systems. This data is constructed from information derived from individual cases or activities within HMRC. These systems can be split into type of tax, but not into behaviour and customer group, as this is not a standard HMRC performance reporting metric.

The additional tax revenues collected from compliance activities by HM Revenue and Customs for each year since May 2010 is as follows.

*Note: the methodology for calculating additional tax revenues from compliance activity changed between 2010/11 and 2011/12, and so the figure of £13.9bn is not directly comparable to later years.