§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) in how many cases so far he has used his discretion to authorise direct payments to women from the Maternity Pay Fund; and for what reason the employer was unable to pay in the first instance;
(2) if he will give a breakdown of (a) the type of work of women who have so far received maternity pay within the terms of the Employment Protection Act 1975, (b) their ages and (c) the geographical areas where they work.
(3) how many women have received maternity pay from their employers for which a rebate to the employer has been made from the Maternity Pay Fund.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerUp to 31st January 1978 the Secretary of State has authorised direct payments to 17 women from the Maternity Pay Fund. I will write to my hon. Friend about the reasons why the employers in these cases did not pay in the first instance.
Information about the type of work of women who have so far received maternity pay within the terms of the Act is not held centrally and could not be obtained without disproportionate effort and expense. Information about the ages of these women is not available.
Up to 31st January 1978, 46,287 women have received maternity pay from their employers for which rebate has been paid. The number of employees covered by 304W rebate claims processed by Department of Employment regions was:
Northern 2,870 (1) Yorkshire & Humberside 4,481 (1) South East 15,389 (7) South West and Wales 5,290 (1) Midlands 7,737 (1) North West 6,728 (3) Scotland 3,809 (3) 46,304(17) (The figures in brackets represent the number of direct payments included)
Since some firms submit centralised claims, not all claims are processed in the region where the employees work.