HC Deb 22 March 2004 vol 419 cc652-5W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average percentage change in (a) Public sector pay and (b) non-manual earnings has been in each year since 1993. [162291]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 22 March 2004: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question for a list of the percentage change in (a) public sector pay and (b) non-manual earnings has been in each year since 1993. I am replying in his absence. (162291) I attach a table showing the percentage change in public sector pay and non-manual earnings. Average earnings are estimated from the 2003 New Earnings Survey (NES) and are provided for full-time employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period, by their place of work. This is the standard definition used for NES tables. The NES does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work. The NES, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in Great Britain. It is a one per cent sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes, but because of its sampling frame, it has difficulty capturing data on people with very low pay. It is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold. Estimates for changes in non-manual earnings from 1993 to 2002 are coded from the non-manual classification in the Standard Occupational Classification 1990. Non-manual tables were not produced as part of the 2003 NES. This is because the data have been coded on the Standard Occupational Classification 2000 which does not differentiate between manual and non-manual employees. An alternative to the manual and non-manual split has been derived from the NES, based on the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) for the 2003 estimate. However, the two classification methods do produce different results and comparisons between the two should only be used with caution.

Percentage change in (a) public sector pay and (b) non-manual earnings since 1993.
Year Public Sector Non-manual
1993 to 1994 2.5 2.9
1994 to 1995 3.1
1995 to 1996 4.2 4.4
1996 to 1997 3.3 4.5
1997 to 1998 3.6 4.5
1998 to 1999 4.0 3.8
1999 to 2000 3.6 4.5
2000 to 2001 5.3 6.0
2001 to 2002 3.6 4.6
2002 to 2003 3.7 2.1

Notes:

The data used for 2002 to 2003 was derived using the NS-SEC.

Source for earnings data:

New Earnings Survey, April 2003

1. The Inter-Departmental Business Register was used to derive the Public sector.

Full time employees gross weekly earnings (£) for Greater London and each London Borough, April 2003
Male Female All Employees
10%earned less than Median (£) 10%earned more than 10%earned less than Median (£) 10%earned more than 10%earned less than Median(£) 10%earned more than
Greater London 282.4 552.9 1260.1 242.8 447.9 821.6 264.0 501.6 1103.7
City of London 412.8 834.9 2012.7 338.9 566.2 1302.8 383.9 706.3 1817.9
Barking and Dagenham 268.8 524.4 1091.5 1 363.9 1 246.6 481.5 971.3
Barnet 483.8 1 244.9 409.5 666.9 1 448.2 1
Bexley 240.2 438.3 791.6 211.6 344.0 617.8 238.3 412.3 744.5
Brent 291.9 442.1 822.7 228.9 368.5 653.8 255.4 411.3 735.9
Bromley 1 373.1 1 194.7 307.6 599.0 200.1 333.2 822.1
Camden 313.0 591.4 1218.6 290.4 492.1 863.7 304.6 550.9 1088.3
Croydon 274.9 500.5 885.0 224.4 348.7 624.1 245.8 417.7 767.9
Ealing 270.1 459.6 909.8 232.2 423.4 761.9 257.6 446.2 842.3

Comprising:

(a) Central Government.

Government departments and establishments, the National Health Service and various government-financed organisations.(The Armed Forces are not covered by the NES).

(b) Local government.

Local Government authorities (including education authorities), police service and various other organisations.

(c) Public corporations.

Nationalised industries, NHS Trusts, and other publicly-constituted trading organisations.

2. Information is provided for average gross weekly earnings including overtime to and relates full time employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay period was unaffected by absence.

3. Data for Public Sector percentage change is unavailable for 1994–1995 due to a change in 1995 in sectoral coding, it was not possible to calculate the percentage increases for the sectors.

Simon Hughes

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for(a) male, (b) female and (c) all workers in (i) Greater London and (ii) each London borough the (A) weekly median earnings and (B) distribution of earnings for those earning (1) under the point below which 10 per cent. of earners fall and (2) the point above which 10 per cent. of earners exceed. [162410]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Colin Mowl to Simon Hughes, dated 22 March 2004: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question which asked for details of earnings in Greater London and each London Borough. I am replying in his absence. The attached table shows the median and percentile earnings. Average earnings are estimated from the 2003 New Earnings Survey (NES) and are provided for full-time employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period, by their place of work. This is the standard definition used for NES tables. The NES does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work. The NES, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in Great Britain. It is a one per cent sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes, but because of its sampling frame, it has difficulty capturing data on people with very low pay. It is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold. The New Earnings Survey publication criteria ensures that all estimates are undisclosive and of reliable quality. A large number of estimates have been removed from the lists due to the suppression criteria. The information is based on the 2003 NES, the latest survey for which data are available. The area of Greater London is defined by grouping together all the boroughs of London.

Full time employees gross weekly earnings (£) for Greater London Borough, April 2003
Male Female All Employees
10%earned less than Median(£) 10%earned more than 10%earned less than Median(£) 10%earned more than 10%earned less than Median(£) 10%earned more than
Enfield 264.1 459.1 870.0 224.4 381.0 611.9 238.5 431.9 786.2
Greenwich 293.9 483.0 805.1 1 384.9 1 230.3 449.1 773.2
Hackney 1 496.3 1 250.5 426.5 1 299.7 479.6 889.4
Hammersmith and Fulham 348.5 575.8 1350.5 289.5 493.2 860.6 308.6 544.1 1082.4
Haringey 257.5 449.9 704.0 270.1 382.4 681.8 272.3 419.3 689.6
Harrow 282.6 510.4 998.8 249.7 396.4 750.5 261.2 448.6 821.9
Havering 199.3 340.7 724.0 195.2 300.0 576.0 197.0 319.7 621.1
Hillingdon 281.0 534.7 1013.2 202.0 386.9 781.4 237.1 483.4 918.7
Hounslow 294.9 509.1 1172.4 236.8 422.3 729.2 260.0 479.9 994.4
Islington 330.2 672.1 1610.4 289.5 530.2 1032.6 311.9 595.0 1419.0
Kensington and Chelsea 1 516.4 1 237.3 441.5 804.2 250.0 483.1 1058.2
Kingston upon Thames 1 472.1 1 1 411.8 1 234.1 441.5 1006.5
Lambeth 1 500.7 1 286.2 467.4 761.2 269.8 488.5 960.9
Lewisham 299.5 456.7 792.0 1 478.2 1 251.8 465.0 770.7
Merton 1 407.0 1 1 345.5 1 1 384.0 1
Newham 240.0 477.5 809.0 1 340.1 1 229.9 416.8 753.2
Redbridge 1 458.6 1 1 410.3 1 1 427.6 1
Richmond upon Thames 271.5 493.0 943.9 1 422.3 1 258.3 463.4 875.2
Southwark 362.9 653.9 1033.5 299.6 504.1 927.9 337.0 600.1 1009.6
Sutton 287.2 497.0 971.8 242.4 388.7 641.4 276.8 455.9 827.7
Tower Hamlets 318.5 671.8 1695.0 326.7 563.4 1063.3 326.3 623.9 1570.1
Waltham Forest 1 450.9 1 1 391.5 1 202.6 440.9 802.3
Wandsworth 275.6 472.4 1038.0 257.2 448.6 738.4 265.4 460.7 921.3
City of Westminster 287.8 581.6 1549.9 268.4 473.1 898.3 278.2 518.9 1247.6
1 Data have been suppressed due to confidentiality or quality

Note:

1. The definition of Greater London is the total of all London Boroughs.

2. Information is provided for average gross weekly earnings including overtime and relates full time employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay period was unaffected by absence.

3. The New Earnings Survey release criteria currently require that any estimate: (a) of a mean is based on a sample size of at least 30 and that the associated standard error does not exceed 5 per cent. (b) of a quantile such as a percentile, quartile or median, or of a percentage, is based on a sample size of at least 10 and that the sample size is either at least 225 or that the relative standard error is less than 20 per cent.

4. Estimates are produced for those people who work in a borough.