§ Sir David SteelTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will publish separate statistics for average earnings for the Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and the Highlands and Islands;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report statistics for average earnings in the Scottish Borders, using samples taken in the Borders.
212Wpersonal community charge is not comprehensive. The figures, which relate to 1 July 1990 and are available only for local authority areas, are as follows:
§ Mr. RifkindThe only information on average earnings for these areas comes from the new earnings survey, which is a sample survey based on 1 per cent. of all employees in PAYE schemes in Great Britain.
The latest available information, from the 1989 new earnings survey, is given in the following table. It is not possible to provide average earnings estimates for the Borders region, nor for women in Dumfries and Galloway and the Highlands and Islands, because the new earnings survey sample in these areas does not give sufficiently reliable estimates.
Average gross weekly earnings in April 1989 Males Females Males and females £ £ £ Borders n/a n/a n/a Dumfries and Galloway 232.0 n/a 207.6 Highlands and Islands 246.4 n/a 219.7 Notes:
n/a—Not available.
Earnings of full time employees on adult rates, not affected by absence.