§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the pay gap between men and women employed by his Department and its agencies in(a) Southampton, (b) Eastleigh, (c) Winchester and (d) Romsey. [171620]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Department, and its agencies do not employ any staff in Southampton, Eastleigh, Winchester or Romsey, except for the NHS Estates agency which employs 15 staff in Winchester.
It conducts an equal pay assessment each time a new employee is appointed or when an existing employee is promoted and the proposed salary has to be agreed by the chief operating officer who conducts a "benchmarking" exercise via the human resources department.