HC Deb 31 January 1966 vol 723 cc680-2
48. Mrs. McKay

asked the Minister of Labour if he will take steps to encourage employers in the private sector to end sex discrimination in pay rates.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour (Mr. Ernest Thornton)

My right hon. Friend has received the report of the Inter-Departmental Working Party on Equal Pay which he set up last year. The principle of equal pay is not in question, but its implementation raises important issues of timing and methods which need to be examined in consultation with industry. He proposes shortly to invite the T.U.C. and the Confederation of British Industry to discuss these matters with him.

Mrs. McKay

I thank my hon. Friend for that Answer. Can he explain the leak in today's Press intimating Government rejection of equal pay on the basis of this Report, for which hon. Members have been pressing for months and which we have not yet received? Will he give encouragement to the private sector by recommending that the Government award equal pay to women workers in Government industrial establishments?

Mr. Thornton

I cannot accept responsibility for leaks to the Press or for what is in the Press. I repeat that the principle of equal pay is not in question, but its implementation raises difficult problems which my right hon. Friend will be examining in discussions with the T.U.C. and the C.B.I. That is the next essential step in this movement to a desirable objective.

Mr. Ronald Bell

Will the hon. Gentleman be very careful about those dangerous words "discrimination" and "equal", which can beg a lot of questions? Will he bear in mind the Royal Commission on Equal Pay, which went very carefully into this, and reported that the average value of work by men was 30 per cent. greater than that by women and that what we should aim at is equal pay for equal work, not the rate for the job.

Mr. Thornton

These, of course, are all very complicated issues and they will all be taken into account in the discussion which my right hon. Friend will have with both sides of industry.

Dr, Summerskill

Would not my hon. Friend agree that the Government's incomes policy is neither fair nor just if it tolerates a system where 10 per cent. only of women are receiving equal pay?

Mr. Thornton

The question of an incomes policy will be only one of many factors taken into account in considering this very complex and important problem.