To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities have equal pay policies for male and female staff. (130716)

It is for individual local authorities, as employers, to determine pay policies for their staff, subject to the relevant statutory requirements.

Local authorities set their own pay policies and most place staff on a pay scale which is negotiated at a national level between the unions and local government.

Like any other employer, local authorities are subject to the provisions of the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.

In setting their pay policies, local authorities must also comply with the Gender Duty, which places a statutory obligation on all public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harassment and to promote equality of opportunity between women and men in carrying out their functions.