HC Deb 29 July 1975 vol 896 cc438-40W
30. Mrs. Ann Taylor

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the progress made towards equal pay for women on 29th December 1975.

Mr. John Fraser

The Equal Pay Act comes into full operation on 29th December 1975. My Department has recently undertaken a further review of progress towards equal pay and I am encouraged to see that considerable progress has been made over the last year. I am, however, concerned that some employers still appear not to realise the full extent of their liabilities under the Act. Following is a table showing progress towards the removal of discrimination from collective agreements and wages orders at the end of March 1975:

SUMMARY OF REGISTER SHOWING MOVEMENTS TOWARDS EQUAL PAY IN COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS AND WAGES ORDERS
Number of agreements/orders Women's rates as a percentage of men's
End of March 1970 End of March 1975
Number of agreements/orders discriminating at January 1970 under 70 per cent. 70–79 per cent. 80–89 per cent. above 90 per cent. 80–89 per cent. 90–94 per cent. 95–99 per cent. 100 per cent. Number of agreements/orders at end-March 1975
Agriculture, forestry, etc. 3 — 2 1 — 1 1 — 1 3
Mining and quarrying — — — — — — — — — —
Food, drink and tobacco 18 2 15 — 1 1 1 10 4 16
Coal and petroleum products — — — — — — — — — —
Chemicals and allied industries 10 — 10 — — 1 — 6 2 9
Metal manufacture, all engineering and vehicles 6 — 2 4 — — 1 3 — 4
Metal goods 11 3 3 4 1 — 2 2 3 7
Textiles 23 10 12 — 1 5 4 8 4 21
Leather, leather goods and fur 4 — 2 1 1 — 2 2 — 4
Clothing and footwear 10 1 7 2 — 1 1 8 1 11
Bricks, pottery, glass, etc 11 — 5 6 — — 5 1 5 11
Timber, furniture, etc 9 — 6 3 — 2 — 2 2 6
Paper, printing and publishing 12 — 11 1 — — 3 9 — 12
Other manufacturing 5 — 2 3 — — — 3 1 4
Construction 2 — — 1 1 1 — — — 1
Gas, electricity, water — — — — — — — — — —
Transport and communication 1 — — — 1 — — — — —
Distributive trades 26 1 19 4 1 — 2 11 13 26
Professional and scientific 1 — — — — — — — 1 1
Miscellaneous services 9 1 5 2 1 1 3 4 1 9
Public administration 6 — 3 2 1 — — 1 5 6
Total 167 18 105 34 9 13 25 70 43 151
Per cent, of Total 100 11 63 20 5 8 17 46 29 100