§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the ratio of female to male earnings in the northern region. [28142]
§ Alan JohnsonThe gap between male and female earnings in the north-east Government office region has narrowed in recent years. According to the New Earnings Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics, average hourly pay for full-time employees, excluding overtime, in the north-east, was £8.99 for men and £7.26 for women in 1998, equivalent to a female to male ratio of 80.7 per cent. By 2001, the gender pay gap in the region had narrowed to 84.1 per cent. (£10.08 for men and £8.48 for women), a reduction which can be attributed at least in part to the introduction of the national minimum wage. In Great Britain as a whole the gender pay gap has narrowed from 80.0 per cent. to 81.6 per cent. over the same period.