§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will pesent the latest available data relating only to the routine inspection visits by the wages inspectorate of wages council establishments for the latest available date breaking down the information to show (a) the number of firms visited, (b) the number of examples of failure to enforce the wages council order, (c) the nature of the infringement of the order, (d) the number of workers affected, (e) the average amount of back pay recovered and (f) the total pay recovered for all the routine inspections.
§ Mr. AlisonIn 1982 routine inspections by visit were completed at 16,040 establishments covered by wages council orders. Infringements were found in the case of 4,809 establishments and affected 9,753 workers. The 325W infringements mainly related to underpayments of wages, holiday pay and holiday pay due on termination of employment. The average amount of arrears recovered per worker was £74.48. The total amount recovered was £726,404.
The findings of routine inspections by visit cannot be regarded as applying to all wages council establishments because the Inspectorate tends to concentrate its visits on establishments where underpayments are most likely to be found.