§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Employment what were, for the most recent year for which statistics are available, the numbers of employers found to be paying wages below the wages council rates; how many employees were affected; and if he will estimate the amount of wages, in total, that went unpaid.
§ Mr. GummerIn 1982, pay rates at 39,514 establishments in wages council trades were checked and 9,269, or 23.4 per cent., were found to have underlaid one or more workers; the number of workers covered by these checks was 327,627, of whom 20,406, or 6.2 per cent., were found to have been underpaid. The total arrears assessed as due were £2,286,893.