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The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report.

1. The Committee notes the Government's reply concerning the previous comments of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) with regard to the wage gap in some occupational categories. The Government attributes this wage gap to the diversity of occupations within these occupational groupings and the differing distribution of males and females across these groups, suggesting that women tend to be employed more widely in the lower-paid jobs within these categories. The Committee, not being in a position to come to any conclusions on the basis of the information available to it, requests the Government to provide it with the more detailed statistics upon which the Government relies in making its statement. The Committee does note in this respect that, according to statistics provided by the Government, in 1997 women's average hourly earnings (excluding overtime), although having gradually increased over the past ten years, constituted only 80.2 per cent of men's earnings in Great Britain and 83.4 per cent of men's earnings in Northern Ireland, reflecting a decrease from 84.7 per cent in 1996.

2. The Committee notes the Government's indication that the findings of the 1995 Equal Opportunities Commission's (EOC) report on the effects of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT), on which the TUC bases its claim that this process had a negative impact on the wages of women, should be treated with caution since it is based on a relatively small sample which does not include all service sectors covered by the relevant CCT legislation. It also notes the Government's indication that it has made a commitment to abolish the CCT and replace it with a new duty on local authorities to secure "best value" across the range of their activities. In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which the Government's Best Value proposals take into account the findings of the 1995 Report of the Equal Opportunities Commission. It also requests the Government to provide it with a copy of the summary of the White Paper, Modern Local Government -- In Touch with the People, which contains the Government's Best Value proposals.

3. The Committee recalls the comments of the TUC that the application of the lower earnings limit (LEL) for national insurance contributions has a discriminatory effect and adverse impact on women's pay, in part because they constitute the large majority of part-time workers. It notes the Government's response that, if the LEL were set at a lower rate, it would be possible for people to gain entitlement to a pension which would be higher than their earnings during their working life in return for small payments in contributions, and that this would impose an unacceptable burden on other contributors. In order to ascertain whether the LEL might have an indirect discriminatory effect, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the total number and percentage of male and female part-time workers as well as on those whose earnings fall below the LEL. In this respect, the Committee would like to draw attention to Article 8 of the Part-Time Work Convention, 1994 (No. 175) which stipulates that part-time workers whose hours of work or earnings are below specified thresholds may only be excluded from certain statutory security schemes or measures taken in certain fields if these thresholds are sufficiently low as not to exclude an unduly large percentage of part-time workers.

4. The Committee notes the Government's indication that it is committed to the introduction of a statutory national minimum wage which will apply to all workers, whether full or part time, permanent, temporary or casual. It notes the Government's statement that a minimum wage would contribute to easing pay inequalities which still remain between men and women, especially for part-time workers. The Committee notes that the Independent Low Pay Commission, set up by the Government to advise it on an initial rate and other related issues, presented its report and recommendations in May 1998, and that enforcement mechanisms are currently being developed with the priority aim being to encourage self-compliance. Noting that the National Minimum Wage Act received Royal Assent on 31 July 1998 and will be put before Parliament at the end of 1998, the Committee requests the Government to provide it with a copy of the Commission Report and the Act, as well as with information on the effectiveness of the new enforcement mechanisms. The Committee also requests the Government to clarify whether the introduction of a minimum wage will have implications for the application of the LEL.

5. The Committee notes with interest that the Code of Practice on Equal Pay, developed by the EOC, came into force in May 1997. It notes the Government's indication that the Code's goal is to serve as a tool to help employers bridge the pay gap by offering practical advice on ways to implement pay systems free of gender bias and that it can be quoted as evidence in any proceedings before industrial tribunals. It further notes that the Code provides information on the implications of the law for employers, and on some of the reasons and causes underlying sex discrimination in pay. Paragraph 21, for example, states that men and women tend to do different jobs or have different work patterns resulting in undervaluation of work performed by one sex, which, especially when reinforced by discriminatory recruitment, training, selection and promotion procedures, may restrict the range of work each sex performs, for example, by allocating the full-time, higher paid, bonus-earning jobs to men. The Code also contains recommendations for carrying out a review of pay systems on possible existing gender bias, as well as suggestions for employers with regard to the development of an equal pay policy. The Committee, considering that the Code seeks to reinforce the principle of equal pay for work of equal value contained in the relevant legislation, and noting the judicial decisions concerning equal pay attached to the Government's report, requests the Government to provide information on cases in which the Code has been used as evidence. It also requests the Government to provide it with other information illustrating the application of the Code.

6. The Committee notes from the EOC report "Equality in the 21st Century: a New Approach," which forms the basis for a consultation on proposed legislative amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act, 1975 and the Equal Pay Act, 1970, that the EOC's main proposal is to replace the current laws by a single statute based on the principle of a fundamental right to equal treatment between men and women. The new statute, which would bring together all the relevant laws (including equal pay) from various sources and present them in an integrated and coherent way, would guarantee an individual freedom from discrimination on the grounds of sex, pregnancy, marital or family status, gender reassignment and sexual orientation. The Committee notes with interest the emphasis placed in the EOC report on the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. In this regard, it notes the recommendation that a significant improvement on the present framework of litigation would be to empower employment tribunals not only to grant an individual remedy in an individual case, but also to make a general finding, and to order changes to a collective agreement or pay structure. It further notes that the EOC recommended that a legal obligation should be placed on employers to carry out a pay systems review and adopt an equal pay policy as described in the EOC's Code of Practice on Equal Pay, including an obligation to publish the outcome of the review to the workforce with a programme to achieve change. Noting that the EOC will submit its recommendations to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment at the end of 1998, the Committee requests the Government to provide it with a copy of these recommendations, as well as information on measures taken or envisaged to implement these recommendations.