To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Answer by Lord Myners on 8 December 2008 (Official Report, House of Lords, col. 150), what was meant by the description of the independent charity, the Family Budget Unit, who undertook the work on minimum income standards, which supplied the evidence on which the London living wage is based, as “not transparent in its processes”. [HL572]

As was explained in the debate of 8 December 2008, the Low Pay Commission ensures transparency is at the heart of the extensive process used to set the national minimum wage. The Low Pay Commission invites the Government to provide evidence, along with trade unions, employers' organisations, academics and voluntary organisations, setting the economic and non-economic backdrop to their recommendations on national minimum wage rates. To enable it to advise and make recommendations to Government, it also undertakes extensive research, analysis, consultation and fact-finding visits throughout the UK to meet employers, employees and representative organisations. The Low Pay Commission's conclusions are set out in a 200 page evidence-based report.