HC Deb 09 November 1992 vol 213 cc566-7W
Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) pursuant to her answer of 3 November,Official Report, column 201, on the levels of wages received by those covered by wages councils, how many employers records were checked in the analysis, what was the date of the analysis, when it was carried out, how many wages councils were covered and what was the geographical distribution of the employers concerned;

(2) pursuant to her oral answer of 3 November to the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms. Eagle), Official Report, columns 129–30, what was the source and date of the information about the proportion of people covered by wages councils who are paid more than the rate set by those councils.

Mr. McLoughlin

The estimate of around 3 to 4 per cent. of employees found to be underpaid is based on the annual statistics compiled by the wages inspectorate covering the inspection of some 30,000 establishments in all parts of the country. The estimate that two thirds of employees are paid significantly above the wages council minima is based on special information collected by wages inspectors in 1987 supplemented by up to date figures from the new earnings survey. The earlier information covered some 3,650 employers in all the inspectorate divisions. There are no separate details of the councils covered and their geographical distribution.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to her oral answer to the hon. Member for Strathkelvin and Bearsden (Mr. Galbraith) of 3 November,Official Report, columns 130, whether the other sources of income referred to include benefits, earned income or unearned income, respectively.

Mr. McLoughlin

The 80 per cent. of wages council workers referred to are in households with two or more wage earners.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to her answer of 3 November,Official Report, columns 199–200, what was the basis of her approximation that two thirds of wages council workers are women.

Mr. McLoughlin

The estimate is based on the Department's quarterly statistics of employees in employment for industry headings covering the main wages councils.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many cases of underpayment of wages council workers were discovered by the wages inspectorate in the last year for which figures are available; and what percentage this represented of premises inspected and of the number of workers in those premises.

Mr. McLoughlin

During 1991, the wages inspectorate discovered 12,812 cases of underpayment of wages council workers in 5,971 establishments. This represented 18.3 per cent. of all establishments checked and 4.5 per cent. of all workers covered by checks.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many cases of underpayment of wages council workers were reported to the wages inspectorate in the last year for which figures are available; and what percentage that represented of premises visited.

Mr. McLoughlin

In 1991, 1,486 complaints of underpayment were received from wages council workers, which resulted in visits to 1,195 establishments, 6.5 per cent. of the total establishments visited.