HC Deb 03 February 2004 vol 417 c769W
Miss McIntosh

To ask the Minister for Women what steps she has taken to reduce the pay gap; and what evaluation she has made of the success of those steps. [152066]

Ms Hewitt

The pay gap is a complex issue and the Government have limited direct levers to reduce it. However, the Government have taken a number of steps to address the underlying causes including promoting pay reviews by providing business with the tools to undertake them, leading the way through Civil Service pay reviews, introducing the Equal Pay Questionnaire and increasing support for child care, flexible working and work-life balance.

It is extremely difficult to measure the impact of Government policy on the gender pay gap. Latest figures show that the gender pay gap closed by 1 percentage point to 18 per cent. on the mean measure, and stands at 12.9 per cent. on the median measure.

Miss McIntosh

To ask the Minister for Women what assessment she has made of the implications of the gender pay gap for levels of female employment. [152067]

Ms Hewitt

I have not made any specific assessment of the implications of the gender pay gap for levels of female employment. The employment rate for women in the UK currently stands at 70 per cent., well above the EU average and above the Lisbon target for the female employment rate of 60 per cent.

What research has shown is that higher levels of female employment tend to be associated with larger gender pay gaps. For example Eurostat figures show that the EU country with the lowest gender pay gap, Italy, also has one of the lowest female employment rates in the EU at just 42 per cent., nearly 30 percentage points below the UK's.