HC Deb 10 November 1992 vol 213 cc755-6W
Mrs. Roche

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many employees from black and ethnic minority communities working within establishments in London are covered by wages councils.

Mr. McLoughlin

I regret that the information is not available.

Mrs. Roche

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many(a) establishments and (b) employees were covered by the wages councils in London in (i) 1979, (ii) 1986, (iii) 1989 and (iv) 1991.

Mr. McLoughlin

There are no detailed figures on the number of establishments and employees covered by wages councils in London, but the following table gives broad estimates:

Number of establishments Numbers of workers
1979 46,000 326,000
1986 45,000 327,000
1989 56,000 367,000
1991 51,000 317,000

Mrs. Roche

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many checks were carried out by wages councils in London on underpaying in the last year for which figures are available, and what number and proportion were found to be underpaying.

Mr. McLoughlin

The number of checks by all methods carried out in 1991 by the wages inspectorate in its London division was 5,299.

The number of establishments found under paying was 294, 5.5 per cent. of those inspected.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many employees covered by wages councils are the principal source of their household's income.

Mr. McLoughlin

This information is not available.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to her oral answer of 3 November to the hon. Member for Redcar (Ms. Mowlam),Official Report, column 139, if she will give details of the survey resulting in the figure given in her answer for the percentage of wages council workers who are in households with two or more wage earners.

Mr. McLoughlin

The figure referred to by the hon. Member is based on information about the main wages council industries recorded in the April 1991 "Labour Force Survey". This is a sample survey of the members of around 60,000 households in Great Britain.