HC Deb 27 March 2000 vol 347 cc47-8W
Mr. Moore

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the percentage of full-time workers in(a) Scotland, (b) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (c) Great Britain whose earnings on the basis of gross pay, (a) including and (b) excluding overtime were less than (i) £272.07 per week, (ii) £249.53 per week, (iii) £187.15 per week and (iv) £140 per week for the categories: (1) male manual, (2) male non-manual, (3) all male workers, (4) female manual, (5) female non-manual, (6) all female workers, (7) all manual, (8) all non-manual and (9) all workers at the latest date for which figures are available; [115789]

(2) if he will list the average weekly earnings on the basis of gross pay (a) including and (b) excluding overtime for full-time workers in (i) Scotland, (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) Great Britain for (1) all manual, (2) all non-manual and (3) all workers at the latest date for which figures are available. [115788]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 27 March 2000: The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent questions about earnings for workers in Scotland, the unitary areas in Scotland and Great Britain. I am replying in Dr Holt's absence. The New Earnings Survey (NES) can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. However, the release of NES data is restricted to figures that are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and have an acceptable level of accuracy. I have provided the available data for Scotland, the unitary authorities in Scotland and Great Britain in the attached tables. These are based on the 1999 NES, the latest survey for which data are available. These are large tables and copies of them are being placed in the Library of the House rather than reproduced in Hansard. The NES is based on a one per cent sample of employees in the PAYE system and is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold and in particular those who work part-time.