Written question asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour) on Monday, 1 June 2009.

Equal Pay

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government in light of the report in the Financial Times of 5 May, whether there is a gender pay gap in the Army Base Repair Organisation; if so, what is the percentage difference; and what are the reasons for the difference.

Answer: The Army Base Repair Organisation became part of the new Defence Support Group Trading Fund on 1 April 2008. I refer the noble Lord to a similar Answer I gave on 19 May (Official Report, col. WA 292-93) to the noble Baroness, Lady Warsi. I would also like to direct him to the tables on gender pay gaps as set out in the Civil Service Statistics, Table 27, which is provided at the following link at www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/CivilService_tables_2008.xls. Any overall pay gap figure is not relevant in the context of equal pay legislation as it does not compare like-for-like work.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 3720; 711 c21-2WA
Session: 2008-09
Related items: Equal Pay: Government Departments
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Gender Equal pay Army Base Repair Organisation
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk