A NEW report has revealed that over 70% of Scottish Borders Council’s total non-teaching workforce of 4,614 is female.

Produced to assess if the council is meeting its statutory obligations under the Equality Act, the study shows there is still a marked gender imbalance in terms of pay.

The average hourly rate for a female employee in 2014 was £11.11 compared to £12.77 for a man – a differential of £1.66 per hour or 13% which is narrower than the £1.83 (14%) recorded in 2013.

The top-paid jobs at the council continue to be dominated by men although, again, the gap appears to be closing.

Of the highest earning 2% of the workforce in 2014, 38.4% were women – up 2% on the previous year.

A lesser but slightly expanding salary gap exists among the 1,517 teachers employed by the council, 76% of whom are women earning an average of £22.10 per hour - £1.25 less than their male counterparts. In 2013, that pay gap was £1.23.

If women far outnumber men in running council services and educating the region’s children, the same cannot be said for the people who ostensibly control SBC – the 34 elected members.

There are currently just five female councillors, compared to six before the last local government elections in 2012. The remainder are all white males only one of whom is aged under 40.

The report also contains the result of a survey of all staff relating to their sexual orientation.

Although 32% gave no response or declined to state their orientation, 66.43% said they were heterosexual, up from 65.78% the previous year. Only 0.34% (0.35%) said they were bisexual, 0.21% (0.21%) said they were gay and 0.18% (0.15%) said they were lesbian.

In a telling narrative, the report states: “The level of employees who have indicated their sexual orientation is bisexual, gay or lesbian has remained static over the past two years.

“Due to the low number of employees who have indicated this, no further analysis is included as this may lead to the identification of the individuals.” Asked about their religious beliefs, 28.35% of the workforce said they were part of no religious group, while another 29% gave no response. Of the rest, 25.27% said they were Protestant (down from 26.1%), 4.65% said they were Catholic and 5.87% said they were “other Christian”.

Other religions are represented as a percentage of the workforce as follows: Muslim 0.08%, Jewish 0.10%, Buddhist 0.21% and Hindu 0.03%.

“The council is committed to tackling discrimination and advancing equality of opportunity,” said SBC chief executive Tracey Logan after the report was noted by councillors last week.