To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the gender pay gap was for part-time employees in (a) the public sector and (b) the private sector in the last 12 months for which figures are available. (147149)

I have been asked to reply.

In 2006, the gender pay gap for part-time employees was 39.3 per cent. in the public sector and 44.1 per cent. in the private sector. This is the gap between the median hourly pay, excluding overtime, of men working full-time and women working part-time, taken from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.