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The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report as well as the detailed additional documentation attached.

1. The Committee notes from the Government’s report and studies undertaken in 2002 by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) on pay and income in Great Britain that there has been only limited progress in closing the gender gap. The Committee notes that in 2002 women’s average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) amounted to 81.6 per cent of men’s in Great Britain, which was an increase of only 0.7 per cent from 1999. The gender pay gap is smaller in the public (10 per cent) than in the private sector (28 per cent) and, amongst occupations, the hourly pay gap is particularly wide for administrators and managers (30 per cent) and in sales occupations (28 per cent). The gender pay gap is narrowest in clerical and secretarial occupations (2 per cent). In Northern Ireland, women’s average earnings (excluding overtime), after a slight increase in 2000 (87.6 per cent), reduced to 86.6 per cent of men’s in 2001. 

2. The Committee notes the various initiatives taken by the Government and the EOC to reduce the gender pay gap, including initiatives to promote good practice and encourage employers to undertake equal pay reviews (EPRs). The Government indicates that government departments are leading by reviewing their pay systems as part of the Modernizing Government Programme and that a target of April 2003 was set for all departments to prepare action plans for reviewing equal pay systems. The Committee notes that the Government continues to be in favour of a voluntary approach to pay reviews because many employers are currently not in a position to undertake them and adequate tools are needed to conduct reviews properly. It notes in this regard that the EOC has developed and tested the Equal Pay Review Kit for employers to carry out EPRs but that EOC research on "Monitoring Progress Towards Equal Pay" (March 2003) indicates that the majority (54 per cent of the large and 67 per cent of the medium-sized employers) do not plan to carry out a pay review; and that secrecy about pay is still widespread. According to the EOC, there is a need to continue to exert pressure on organizations to carry out EPRs, to ensure that their pay structures and practices are transparent and to reassess, at a future date, the impact reviews have on the pay of women and men. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on any action taken or envisaged, including action taken by the EOC, to ensure more transparency in pay structures and practices so as to be in a better position to assess existing pay inequalities. It also asks the Government to continue to provide information on any action taken or envisaged to narrow the pay gap between men and women, including measures to encourage employers to carry out equal pay reviews, and to indicate the impact of these reviews on the pay of women and men in both the private and public sectors.

3. Further to the above, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that the relative position of women part-time workers has worsened in comparison with male full-time workers and that the average hourly wage for women working part time dropped to 58.6 per cent of the average hourly wage of male full-time workers in 2001. The Committee recalls that in its previous observation it had already noted that in 1999, of all part-time workers, 54.7 per cent women part-time workers earned £66 per week or less, compared to only 9.5 per cent of male workers. The Committee notes with interest that section 5(1) of the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations of 2000 prohibit employers from treating part-time workers less favourably than comparable full-time workers in terms of their conditions of employment, unless different treatment can be objectively justified. It also notes that the regulations were amended in 2002, allowing part-time workers to compare themselves with a full-time colleague, irrespective of whether either party’s contract is permanent or fixed-term, and removing the two-year limit to the period that an employment tribunal may take into consideration when making an award against an employer for having treated a part-time worker less favourably in terms of access to an occupational pension scheme. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the application and enforcement of the part-time work regulations and their impact on the application of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value.

The Committee is raising related and other points in a request directly addressing the Government.