§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in the light of the continuing pay gap between women and men in the United Kingdom, they will introduce legislation to strengthen the Equal Pay Act 1970 by simplifying the procedure for determining whether there is equal pay between men and women for work of equal value, and requiring large employers to introduce employment and pay equity schemes. [HL4660]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe Government continue to take action to improve the way equal pay legislation works. We have introduced a number of measures in recent years to speed up and simplify equal pay cases, including amendments to the Equal Pay Act 1970 that introduced the Equal Pay Questionnaire.
From 1 October 2004, we changed the way in which employment tribunals deal with complex equal value cases and amended the Equal Pay Act to limit the circumstances in which a tribunal could refuse to consider an equal value claim. This will streamline tribunal procedures and help to prevent long delays. The new rules provide tribunals with a range of powers they can use to manage each case appropriately rather than having to follow a standard procedure.
The Government have adopted a voluntary approach to pay reviews and have put in place a number of initiatives to help support business. These include funding the Equal Opportunities Commission to develop equal pay tool kits and providing funding to trade unions for training representatives in equal pay issues in the workplace. More recently, we have provided resources to the TUC to develop the Equal Pay Panel of experts who can deliver free advice/ guidance sessions to organisations looking to investigate or undertake an equal pay review in partnership with unions. In September, the Government appointed the Women and Work Commission which will make recommendations to the Government on tackling the gender pay gap.