§ Ms JowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many new claims were initiated under the 1983 equal value amendment to the Equal Pay Act 1970 in each year since 1983; how many were successful; and what was the average length of each case; [10520]
(2) how many new claims have been initiated under Equal Pay Act 1970 in each year since 1970; how many were successful; and what was the average length of each case. [10521]
§ Mrs. GillanThe precise information requested is not available.
The Equal Pay Act 1970 came into effect on 29 December 1975. Statistics showing the number of equal pay cases disposed of in each year since 1976, and the number of successful cases in each of those years, are shown in the following table.
Year Equal pay cases disposed of1 Number successful2 1976 1,742 213 1977 751 91 1978 343 24 1979 263 13 1980 91 4 1981 54 6 1982 39 2 1983 35 9 1984 70 11 1985 302 37 1986 517 44 1987 1,043 7 1988 813 14 1989 397 33 1990 508 10 1991 227 5 1992 240 21 1993 780 19 Total 8,215 563 1Many equal pay cases typically consist of a single complaint to which is linked a number of identical claims made by colleagues of the complainant who are employed by the same employer. When a tribunal disposes of a complainant's case, all other cases linked to it are disposed of in the same way and are recorded as such in tribunal statistics. 2This column records the actual number of successful complaints decided by tribunals. The figures do not include linked complaints which were not actually heard by tribunals.