§ Ms. RichardsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 1 March,Official Report, column 622, whether the estimate quoted for implementing the pay provisions of the protection of pregnant women at work draft directive excluded or included the current statutory maternity payments; and on what assumptions the figure is based.
§ Mr. ForthThe estimate excludes the current statutory maternity payments, which stand at approximately £400 million a year. The main assumptions underlying the gross estimate of the cost of implementing the draft directive are that 370,000 employees become pregnant each year and that their average weekly earnings are £177 a week.