§ Mr. Pendryasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, for each wages council and for each division of the wages inspectorate (a) the number of establishments covered by wages council orders, (b) the numbers of workers covered by wages council orders, (c) the numbers and percentages of wages council firms inspected and found to be infringing wages council orders, (d) the numbers and percentages of workers found to be underpaid, and (e) the numbers of workers paid arrears and the amount of such arrears.
§ Mr. Alison[pursuant to his reply, 24 March 1983, c. 465]: Estimates by division of the number of workers covered by wages councils are not made; nor is it the practice to publish details by division of infringements in each wages council trade. The tables following give on a provisional basis the other information requested. The date on underpayment relates to inspections by visit and cannot be regarded as representative of all checks carried out by the wages inspectorate, or of all establishments covered by wages councils, as the inspectorate tends to concentrate its visits on establishments where infringements are most likely to be found.
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Table 1 Establishments Covered by Wages Councils on Register—December 1982 Council London (east) London (west) South eastern Southern Eastern South western Midlands (east) Midlands (west) North Western (east) North Western (west) Yorkshire and Humberside Northern Scotland (east) Scotland (west) Wales Total Aerated waters 22 20 36 47 49 51 50 64 38 56 55 41 58 28 50 665 Boot and shoe repairing 179 216 170 229 169 185 150 269 162 157 204 114 126 131 82 2,543 Button manufacturing 19 12 1 4 3 — 5 8 7 1 9 — — 3 2 74 Clothing manufacturing 2,220 1,107 431 367 511 364 603 551 982 351 718 271 170 392 282 9,320 Coffin furniture, etc. — 1 — — — 2 1 6 2 3 5 — 1 2 — 23 Cotton waste reclamation 4 — — — 1 1 — — 18 10 3 — — — 1 38 Flax and hemp — — — — — 1 — — — — — 1 12 — — 14 Fur 168 129 19 21 15 13 7 12 23 16 28 7 19 37 5 519 General waste reclamation 105 43 71 94 118 124 138 202 221 179 321 118 83 74 116 2,007 Hairdressing 1,645 1,865 2,517 2,510 2,325 2,589 2,237 3,072 2,244 2,566 3,264 1,889 1,520 1,222 1,825 33,290 Hat, cap and millinery 22 36 9 12 56 6 5 10 27 4 11 9 8 10 2 227 Lace finishing 2 — — — — — 57 — — 2 — — — 1 — 62 Laundry 51 140 105 101 61 125 52 77 47 37 63 50 96 71 40 1,116 Licensed non-residential establishment 2,735 2,718 5,005 4,831 4,284 15,195 4,610 7,217 4,745 4,769 7,008 4,119 3,016 2,370 4,379 67,001 Licensed residential establishment 841 2,847 2,680 2,011 1,979 5,148 1,240 1,265 950 1,557 1,882 1,263 2,582 1,379 2,251 29,875 Linen and cotton handerkerchief 2 10 1 — — 1 16 1 95 34 11 — 6 3 5 185 Made-up textiles 21 19 15 20 40 25 21 24 22 30 41 25 18 19 18 358 Ostrich and fancy feather 6 3 3 2 7 2 2 — — 1 — 6 2 — 2 36 Perambulator, etc. 1 1 — 3 2 2 7 4 7 — 4 2 1 2 2 38 Retail bespoke tailoring 107 243 41 57 48 64 31 36 47 40 56 25 33 44 20 892 Retail food and allied trades 6,022 6,261 9,574 9,400 8,807 9,735 6,774 9,328 7,643 8,499 11,648 7,243 7,226 5,460 6,338 119,958 Retail trades (non-food) 5,769 6,654 8,680 8,326 7,781 8,676 6,029 8,912 6,556 7,368 9,262 4,871 6,197 4,325 5,461 104,867 Rope, twine and net 3 1 4 — 5 14 3 4 17 9 20 4 25 10 1 120 Sack and bag 10 2 2 1 10 4 8 15 12 18 16 3 5 4 4 114 Toy 32 16 21 31 36 33 49 24 22 27 45 11 12 5 38 402 Unlicensed place of refreshment 1,394 1,712 1,441 1,137 1,310 1,640 817 979 782 1,178 1,360 812 1,016 806 1,143 17,527 Total 21,380 24,056 30,826 29,204 27,617 34,000 22,912 32,080 24,669 26,912 36,034 20,884 22,232 16,398 22,067 391,271 54W55W
Inspections by visit, workers covered by wages councils and under-payments found—1982 Table 2A Analysis by Wages Council Establishments inspected by visit Council Number inspected Percentage on register inspected Number at which underpayment found Percentage inspected at which underpayment found Aerated Waters 52 7.8 21 40.4 Boot and Shoe Repairing 84 3.3 16 19.0 Button Manufacturing 6 8.1 2 33.3 Clothing Manufacturing 645 6.9 265 41.1 Coffin Furniture, etc 6 26.1 3 50.0 Cotton Waste Reclamation 4 10.5 1 25.0 Flax and Hemp 1 7.1 — — Fur 24 4.6 5 20.8 General Waste Reclamation 101 5.0 10 9.9 Hairdressing 2,061 6.2 731 35.5 Hat, Cap and Millinery 11 4.8 3 27.3 Lace Finishing 6 9.7 1 16.7 Laundry 70 6.3 12 17.1 Licensed Non-Residential Establishment 4,857 7.2 1,738 35.8 Licensed Residential Establishment 2,755 9.2 1,392 50.5 Linen and Cotton H'chief 17 9.2 3 17.6 Made-up Textiles 24 6.7 5 20.8 Ostrich and Fancy Feather 4 11.1 1 25.0 Perambulator, etc 9 23.7 — — Retail Bespoke Tailoring 35 3.9 9 25.7 Retail Food and Allied Trades 6,167 5.1 2,704 43.8 Retail Trades (Non-Food) 5,125 4.9 1,844 36.0 Rope, Twine and Net 12 10.0 3 25.0 Sack and Bag 11 9.6 3 27.3 Toy 21 5.2 9 42.9 Unlicensed Place of Refreshment 963 5.5 392 40.7 Total 23,071 5.9 9,173 39.8
Table 2B Estimated number of workers covered by Wages Council Orders at June 1982 Workers whose pay examined Workers paid arrears Number Percentage found to be underpaid Number Amount £ Aerated Waters 15,000 1,095 8.4 92 3,844 Boot and Shoe Repairing 7,100 141 12.8 14 1,587 Button Manufacturing 2,100 197 1.1 2 110 Clothing Manufacturing 252,800 11,667 8.2 790 59,504 Coffin Furniture, etc 300 74 23.0 8 830 Cotton Waste Reclamation 500 9 11.1 1 6 Flax and Hemp 1,400 70 — — — Fur 4,500 108 4.6 5 538 General Waste Reclamation 19,300 754 2.3 17 2,955 Hairdressing 135,600 6,803 14.5 889 73,793 Hat, Cap and Millinery 6,800 122 4.1 5 569 Lace Finishing 800 81 2.5 2 204 Laundry 33,700 1,112 5.4 60 6,389 Licensed Non-Residential Establishment 508,700 30,047 16.0 4,579 479,760 Licensed Residential Establishment 555,300 23,109 15.1 3,292 308,701 Linen and Cotton H'chief 5,200 876 2.2 19 172 Make.up Textiles 4,800 224 3.1 5 411 Ostrich and Fancy Feather 1,400 76 1.3 1 134 Perambulator, etc. 1,500 787 — — — Retail Bespoke Tailoring 5,200 83 10.8 9 1,398 Retail Food and Allied Trades 519,300 22,321 25.1 4,920 484,934 Retail Trades (Non-Food) 512,800 18,168 16.9 2,729 323,059 Rope, Twine and Net 4,000 517 2.3 12 668 Sack and Bag 1,400 92 4.3 4 456 Toy 18,900 288 45.5 99 12,835 Unlicensed Place of Refreshment 116,400 4,895 17.6 770 75,805 Total 2,734,800 123,698 16.3 18,333 1,838,662
Table 3 Inspections by visit and underpayments found—1982 By division of wages inspectorate Establishments inspected by visit Workers whose pay examined Workers Paid Arrears Division Number inspected Percentage of establishments on register inspected Number at which underpayments found Percentage inspected at which underpayment found Number Percentage found to be underpaid Number Amount £ London (East) 1,332 6.2 391 29.4 7,441 9.8 645 70,338 London (West) 1,185 4.9 294 24.8 5,780 9.5 503 74,664 South Eastern 2,175 7.1 764 35.1 9,539 15.7 1,370 150,826 Southern 1,725 5.9 441 25.6 10,211 8.7 828 78,523 Eastern 1,446 5.2 726 50.2 7,944 21.2 1,564 123,577 South Western 1,799 5.3 954 53.0 8,871 22.2 1,725 163,557 Midlands (East) 1,496 6.5 532 35.6 8,472 13.7 1,028 105,577 Midlands (West) 2,045 6.4 666 32.6 11,538 12.7 1,277 153,205 North Western (East) 1,337 5.4 603 45.1 8,686 16.4 1,301 113,785 North Western (West) 1,093 4.1 601 55.0 5,600 26.3 1,349 133,843 Yorkshire and Humberside 2,680 7.4 964 36.0 15,469 13.4 1,686 145,066 Northern 983 4.7 552 56.2 5,340 26.0 1,348 119,718 Scotland (East) 1,238 5.6 513 41.4 6,092 19.4 1,089 111,301 Scotland (West) 812 5.0 349 43.0 4,711 16.5 747 81,772 Wales 1,720 7.8 821 47.7 7,950 24.0 1,871 212,875 TOTAL 23,071 5.9 9,137 39.6 123,698 16.3 18,333 1,838,662
§ Mr. Pendryasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish for each year from 1977 to 1982 information on the numbers and proportions of inspections by wages inspectors which (a) included a visit to the establishment or (b) were carried out by post; whether there was any significant variation in these proportions either between different wages council 56W industries or between different regions of the wages inspectorate; and whether there are any planned changes in these proportions in 1983.
§ Mr. Alison[pursuant to his reply, 24 March 1983, c. 465]: The table following gives information on inspections carried out by various methods in the period 1977–1982. Inspections by postal inquiry are conducted in 57W the hairdressing and retailing trades only. They were introduced in part of retailing in 1977 and extended to the remainder, and to hairdressing, by the end of 1980. Differences between divisions reflect essentially their varying characteristics, for example the number of establishments in each trade. There are no present plans to extend inspections by postal inquiry to other wages council trades.
Establishments Inspected 1977–1982 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 (provisional) Inspections by visit 30,930 31,762 34,807 34,657 24,399 23,071 Percentage 83.8 79.9 68.8 69.3 63.2 58.7 Inspections by visit inquiry only *1,000 *2,500 9,518 7,826 6,317 4,906 Percentage 2.7 6.3 18.8 15.7 16.4 12.5 Other inspections not involving a visit *5,000 *5,500 6,292 7,511 7,880 11,341 Percentage 13.5 13.8 12.4 15.0 20.4 28.8 * Estimated figures comparable with later years are not available.