To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made since 2007 on delivering equal pay for women in (a) each local authority, (b) the Scottish Government and (c) the private sector.

Detailed information on pay for employees of each local authority is not held centrally. The Scottish Government published reports in July 2010 giving an overview of progress made across public authorities on tackling the Gender Equality Duty Ministerial Priorities - one of which is occupational segregation, a major contributor to the gender pay gap. Local authority data were included in the overview sample.

The Scottish Government regularly monitors its progress on pay equality in the Scottish Government Main bargaining unit (which comprises staff below Senior Civil Service level in the Core Directorates and Agencies of the Scottish Government). In 2007, the largest difference in average pay between men and women for doing work of equal value was 3.5% (which was within the Equal Opportunities Commission threshold of 5% at that time). In three of the 10 pay ranges (in 2007), the difference was above 2.0%. Subsequent action to reduce pay gaps has led to the most recent position (October 2010) when the largest difference in average pay between men and women for doing work of equal value had been reduced to 1.4%. In six of the nine pay ranges (in 2010), the difference is now below 1.0%.

The most recent data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings shows that the difference between median hourly earnings for men and women working full-time in the private sector was 20.8% for both 2007 and 2010. For part-time workers the gap has changed from no difference in 2007 to -1.5% in 2010, meaning that the median part-time wage for women is higher than for males.