Equal Pay is an Obligation not an Aspiration

The motion

That the Parliament notes that all member states of the European Union, including devolved legislatures, are obliged to do all they can to achieve equal pay; notes that mere calls for equal pay do not meet those obligations and are not enough to ensure that pay systems of, in particular, public sector employers are free from gender bias; notes the concerns of the Equal Opportunities Commission that local authorities have not done enough to achieve and implement pay structures free from gender bias; notes that nursery nurses remain on varying rates of unequal pay across authorities in Scotland and that generally the pay gap remains wide in local authorities; notes the development of Agenda for Change in the NHS, where pilot projects have shown over 30% of a predominantly female workforce losing out; believes that this is a great cause for concern and does not instil confidence that Agenda For Change can be the mechanism whereby gender bias will be removed from NHS pay, and therefore believes that the Scottish Executive is not currently meeting its obligations under equal pay legislation and that there needs to be immediate steps taken by the Executive to enforce the achievement of equal pay.


No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SSP 4 Green 3 SNP 2 Ind 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S2M-01707 by reference.