§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many complaints regarding illegal underpayment of workers covered by wages councils in Wales were received in 1979 and 1984.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe wages inspectorate in Wales received 610 complaints from workers in 1979 and 579 in 1984.
§ Mr. Donald Stewartasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many workers in each of the past five years in establishments in Scotland covered by wages councils were found to be underpaid; and what arrears were assessed in each year.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe information requested is given in the following table:
45W
Scotland Workers found to have been underpaid Arrears assessed have been underpaid £ 1980 3,860 303,103 1981 2,805 272,200 1982 1,965 226,264 1983 1,959 217,317 1984* 1,592 210,359 * Provisional.
§ Mr. Donald Stewartasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many establishments were visited in Scotland by wages inspectors in each of the past five years;
Scotland Establishments where pay was checked by visit Establishments visited and found to be underpaying one or more workers Proportion of establishments visited and found to underpaying one or more workers (see note below) percentage 1980 3,847 1,437 37.3 1981 2,443 1,085 44.4 1982 2,055 864 42.0 1983 2,939 914 31.1 *1984 2,773 845 30.5 * Provisional Note:
These figures cannot be taken as an indication of the general level of compliance as the inspectorate tends to concentrate visits on establishments which are more likely to be underpaying.
Mr. Ron Brownasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many workers in Scotland are currently covered bywages councils; what are the wage rates for each category of employment; how many instances of underpayment were discovered in 1984; and how many employers were prosecuted as a result.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe number of workers covered by wages councils in Scotland is not available.
I refer the hon. Member to my reply on wages rates to the hon. Member for Thurrock (Dr. McDonald) on 4 March 1985 at column 364.
In 1984, 1,592 workers in 845 establishments in Scotland were found to have been underpaid. No employers were prosecuted.