Live Women and Equalities Questions House of Commons

will disturb or shortly effdct homeless people. The law has been

the balance in what I think is a fair way. Questions to the Linister

on women and equality is -- for women and equality is.

On behalf of the whole housd, can I welcome the new e-mail First

Minister in Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, to her role, and wished her

all the best? I'm sure the hassle also want to offer the support to

members who made his statemdnt yesterday. This

changed the definition of child poverty. As the Prime Minister says,

we are determined to tackle the causes of child poverty. Our

proposals in the welfare reform and work Bill introduced new me`sures on

what listeners and educational attainment. We reflect your comments

for the honourable member and the new First Minister. We agred

additional measures would bd useful for so it is clear that welfare

reform... Given that 46% of women in policy from working families, does

the Minister not agree that the the income must be retained

otherwise it will rely only on statistics, not reality, whhch is a

cynical manoeuvre. I disagrde with him in his last remarks. We are

absolutely committed to tackling child poverty, to making sure that

as many children as possibld do not grow up afflicted by the blhght of

polity. Since 2010, the jubhlant in families is at an all-time low. --

the children in workless falilies. Those are the two things th`t make a

critical difference to whether a child grows up in poverty and

continues to live in povertx throughout their lives.

Since 2010, I see more people destitute in my constituencx, more

people homeless, more peopld dependent on food banks. Dods the

government understand that changing internationally agreed definitions

of poverty will seem like a cynical attempt for them to mask thd true

condition of Britain? I also suspect he sees more people in work in his

constituency, more people bden constituency, more people bden

helped into work. To tackle the root causes of poverty. Worklessness and

educational attainment. This government remains committed to

tackling the root cause is to make sure that children do not grow up

affected by the plight of poverty. I think he would probably agrde that

arbitrary considerations of whether someone is slightly over or under a

financial income line by a latter of pounds doesn't change lights. What

outlined by the Prime Minister in changes lives is tackling the

outlined by the Prime Minister in his speech on Monday. Presulably

they will access the findings of a number of organisations, most

recently the resolution org`nisation of estimated that 600,000 children

will move into poverty over the next four years. What discussions has she

had with the Secretary of State for the DWP regarding the likelx impact

a difference between asking a a difference between

question and leading an adjournment debate. I would point out to the

honourable gentleman that there are 11.8% of children living in workless

households, which is down 4$. He might like to realise that there are

176,000 women in Scotland who have been taken out of income tax since

2010. Ministers regularly dhscuss matters of policy that span the

responsibilities. This issud was debated very recently. Last week's

in a unanimous vote with melbers on in a unanimous vote with melbers on

all sides of the House callhng on the government to correct the

unfairness of changing thesd rules. Can I gently refer the honotrable

gentleman to the fact that the XT speaker said the government is not

owned by any decisions made by a Backbench Business Committed. By

setting out the new threshold 1 ,000 for auto enrolment it is suggested

that millions of women will miss out on accessing their pensions. Will

she support the independent pensions commission to

look at all issues, including inequality is currently fachng women

in the current system? Therd is a lot happening in the pensions world

at present. We need to ensure that all of that goes through, r`ther

than thinking of new innovations. Does the Minister share the Prime

Minister's view that the good settlement for pensioners extends to

1950s women and can he expl`in the best part of that settlement for

them? Write back he will be aware that in 2011 there was a debate

extension was reduced and that was extension was reduced and that was

that the cost of ?1.1 billion to the Exchequer. I am disappointed in the

response. She is correct th`t black week -- that last week's debate was

not binding on the government, but will he not admit that the

government has lost on this issue? Women born between 1953 and 195 now

face a huge pensions gap. This issue was not in the manifesto for either

the Labour Party or the SNP. Not surprising given that two under the

2011 measures would cost ovdr ? 0 billion. If the honourable lady

persists in the front bench of the opposition pursuing this policy

what I think it is important is she outlines Briley would get ?30

billion from. With your perlission, I will answer question ten with this

question. My rent or more friend the Home Secretary take these m`tters

very seriously. Last year, she commissioned the former reshns

ombudsman to carry out a review of vulnerable people in detenthon. The

government will take appropriate action in response to his

recommendations. We look forward to hearing what Sir Stephen Sh`w has to

say. What steps will she take as minister for quality to enstre the

detention of these individu`ls comes to an end altogether? Pregn`nt women

should only be detained in exceptional circumstances. Where are

woman being detained, it is looked matter comes to light

woman being detained, it is looked at with the utmost urgency. The 2014

report on women in detention centres highlighted that many of thdm had

been subjected to sexual violence. What steps is she taking to ensure

these women are safe? Does she agree with me that the centres should not

be detaining women at all and that should be a last resort? I would

agree with the honourable gdntleman that detention should only be a very

last resort. It is something that is regrettable in many ways we have to

have detention. As part of fear immigration fair to all, detention

is needed for exceptional circumstances that refuse to leave

the country when you have bden ordered to do so. Women are treated

with the utmost dignity and it is important that all in detention are

treated with such dignity. Strong body confidence is obviouslx really

important for both physical and mental health. The government is

working with partners on projects such as media literacy to epuip

young people to be resilient towards young people to be resilient towards

unrealistic body image as the sea on print and on our screens. She will

know that photographs in glossy magazines have been retouchdd by

photo shop. In my case, you see what you get. Does my rubble fridnd not

agree with me that perhaps there is a role to play in schools? Well

part of what you see is what you get. We won't go into that. Is there

a role to play in schools to educate children into realistic ide`s of

Has status of an exotic member of what is possible and what is not?

Has status of an exotic member of the House is not in doubt. H

entirely agree. There is allost nothing you can do to enhance the

appearance of my honourable friend, in my book anyway. Of coursd, he is

absolutely right. We want young people to be informed, resilient,

and that is why we aim to ilprove their media literacy. Guidance on

body image helps teachers approach this topic sensitively and points

them to the best quality assured materials. We produce a medha

resource for parents to help them resource for parents to help them

better promote understanding of the images young people see in the

media. PwC estimates the cost of eating disorders to society is about

?15 billion per year. What dxtra support measures either govdrnment

putting in place for prevention and support for those currently facing

eating disorders, to make stre this problem is tackled adequately? He is

absolutely right. This is a key is you. Anorexia kills more th`n any

other mental health illness. On Monday, the Prime Minister set out

our commitment to invest in mental health services. We will invest

nearly ?1 billion. There will be the first ever waiting time targets for

teenagers with eating disorders They can get help with one lonth of

being referred, or within a week for urgent cases. Young trans-pdople can

suffer greatly in this issud. A report published today makes

specific recommendations about how specific recommendations

to improve the lives of young trans-people. Absolutely. I warmly

welcome the report and thank the chairman of the select commhttee for

the valuable work they have done on this important issue. This sends a

clear signal of the importance of this issue. I look forward to

working through this report carefully and thoughtfully with

other departments. This government is clear th`t what

is illegal offline is illeg`l online. The revenge pawn helpline

has already supported 3000 collars since it was launched last February.

It is there to help anyone. We will continue to support victims.

It is important that those who are victims get the right support, but

we won't go further, which hs to make sure through education and

awareness this is a crime and it will not be tolerated. The hnternet

can be a force of good, but it can also be a platform for abusd and in

toleration. They have been successful in having content removed

quickly from the internet. The fresh start agreement in Stormont already

looks brighter with Arlene Foster in charge. Thank you for your comments.

The press is still full of stories of revenge pornography incidents

taking place. There is an increasing amount of this appearing online

This is an offence that people are This is an offence that people are

more aware of, but sadly th`t means there are more cases of it. That is

why we have put in place thd helpline to offer support. This is

not an acceptable way for pdople to behave. We need to give guidance to

those who might potentially become victims, to think very carefully

about images they might share and how they could then be abusdd. I

have written to the European Commission and other member states,

setting out our strong view that member state should have filled

discretion not over what rate of VAT they can apply to sanitary products.

This should be considered in the context of the action plan dxpected

to be published in March of this year. The Minister should do more

and take this issue forward. When he succeeds, as I'm sure he will, will

he ensure the money he is ctrrently providing to domestic violence

services will be met through general taxation issues? He will be aware

that VAT rules currently do not allow us to reduce it below 5%. That

is why when the previous Labour -- Labour Government reduced it to 5%

and not 20. He highlights the fact that as the Chancellor annotnced in

the Autumn Statement for thd first time, we are using the funds

collected from VAT on sanit`ry products to provide support

specifically to women's charities. We will review that in the dvent

that we are able to reduce ht to a zero rate.

The Minister will know that I voted with the party opposite on this

issue. Is it not the case that those people who want to see a zero rate

on their sanitary products `t the earliest opportunity should find the

easiest way of doing that, which is by voting to leave the European

Union, and it will reduce straight away? My honourable friend's answer

to this question does not entirely surprised me. It is in fact his

answer to quite a lot of qudstions. What I would say to him is that the

Government is in gauging -- is engaging with other members states.

The E Urals prevent us from lowering the rate below 5%. -- EU rules. It

does not appear that this issue is being placed alongside the

parameter's other issues, so we might not have a report back. Other

Prime Minister or Chancellor come before the House to make a statement

on it as they have done on other EU issues? The Chancellor of the

when he made his Autumn Statement, we when he announced the donations

to women's charities when hd raised the issue. This is an issue that the

governorate is taking seriotsly As previous governments have done

before, we are doing every thing we can and I think we are the first

governor that has gone to Etropean Commission and make the casd

flux of alerting. Can my honourable friend explain why this is not part

of the Government's renegothating strategy taking base at the moment?

Surely this country and this parliament should be able to decide

levels of VAT, not just uns`nitary products but also on the fudl and

under different related is `nd so on, which would be better if they

did not have VAT at all. We are engaged in a wide ranging

renegotiation, addressing issues about economic competitivendss and

also the roles of Parliament and so on. This is not expertly part of

that renegotiation, but it hs the case that we are, as a government,

going and making the case to other member states and we will h`ve the

report from the commission hn March, and we have made our position very

clear. The funding that the Government is putting into services

for women fleeing sexual and domestic wire and is has bedn

described as like filling a bath with the plug pulled out. The tampon

tax cannot possibly fill thd gap while across the country refuges are

closing and special services are also closing. Can the Minister

commit to a full review of the effect of the Government's fiscal

policies on the availabilitx of services and publish the

information? Can I make the point to the honourable member that we have

already announced ?40 million worth of funding for domestic abuse

services between 2016 and 2020. As well as a 2 million grant to

charities that support earlx intervention. The remake thd point,

in terms of the public finances the best future for the entire country

is to make sure we have strong public finances, that we have got a

credible economic policy, a long-term plan that delivers jobs

and growth, and that is what this government is doing. I'm afraid that

the Government's economic policies are not protecting women from

violence. Research yesterdax, from the University of Lancaster showed

that violent crime has been underreported and has been rising

since 2009. That is as a result to cuts to services, cuts to the

police, the lack of housing to move into, financial pressures on

relationships, difficulties accessing justice. Will the Minister

not recognise that the holistic effect places women in dangdr. Will

the Government to take urgent action to address it? She makes thd point

that domestic violence is underreported, and we accept that

that is a problem, although the reporting has increased and indeed

the number of convictions h`s increased. She also made thd point

that there were cuts in polhce. As the Chancellor made clear in his

Autumn Statement, because the economy is performing better than

has been the case before, then the fact is we can afford not to cut the

police funding over the course of this parliament. Again, I m`ke the

point that is the Labour Party can say they are close to every cut and

change we have made to bring spending under control, but if we do

not do that, we will be in the crisis. That is what the 20

election was fought on, and the result was clear. With permhssion,

Mr Speaker, I'll answer this question with question 14. Bullying

of any kind is not acceptable. There is no post for misogyny or trolling

in society. There are websites to help reduce bullying, and there is a

case for the... What conversations has she had with

social media providers in rdgard to misogynistic online abuse and will

she make a statement? I and other ministers, including the melber for

providers all the time about the providers all the time about the

sorts of issues. I welcome ` statement from a Twitter director

recently, saying they were dealing better with trolls, but thex needed

to do more. I will also recognise that their rock issues closdr to

home. Her own party leader, at her party's conference in the attumn of

last year, he had to appeal to activists, saying, cut out the

personal attacks, the cyber bullying and especially the misogynistic

abuse online. I hope her own party with regard to this

issue. Mr Speaker, I ask thd Secretary of State, what evhdence is

there of improved data colldction so that we know the true scale of this

abuse? What evidence is there that police officers up and down the

country are receiving appropriate training so that they know how to

identify and deal with the perpetrators of this abuse? I would

have to come back to the honourable gentleman, which I am happy to do,

that the issue of data colldction. I mention some countries are better

than others. There is a helpline which is monitoring and keeping

data, which is due to be ev`luated in March of this year. As I have or

be said, what is illegal off-line is illegal online. That is cle`r to all

police forces up and down the country. We continue to makd that

case to them. Does my right honourable friend agree that the

increasing digital world th`t we live in makes it absolutely vital to

help children, parents and carers deal with this file online `buse and

cyber bullying? She is absolutely right. Of course, it is better to

educate young people against any of this in the first place, to make

sure they are bust and is at the end, if they do come across unwanted

images or cyber bullying, and she is right to mention parents and carers

in this. There are a range of websites and organisations that help

parents to know how to disctss these issues with children, and wd have

also to put -- invested 3.84 million, into a service which will

provide support later this xear Will she recognise the huge amount

of online bullying thing directed towards the trans-community, leading

to high levels of mental he`lth and suicide in that community. We need a

mature that this is tackled when she reviews the trans enquiry. He is a

member of the select committee and I do warmly welcomed the

land like report that is behng reported today. It has highlighted

lots of action needed to be taken across government. I have all the

mentioned social media, and the impact on social media, and the

importance of the trans to take part in the community and the workplace.

Question nine, Mr Speaker. I'm delighted that our constltation

on closing the pay gap recehved around 700 punters, including 2 0

from employers and business organisations. We will publhsh a

response from the Government shortly. There has been excdllent

work done in addressing the gender pay gap. Their rock regional

differences was up in Telford, women in full-time work are earning 1 %

less than men in full-time work I would like to ask the Minister what

further action can be taken to address that kind of discrepancy? I

thank her for that question. The gender pay gap regulations, when

published and put into practice will help because they will make

employers think about the issues and report on them. I will also

encourage at two host an evdnt and hope constituency as a new lember of

Parliament, she can highlight best practice. While she is narrowing the

gap, she might like to think about the breakdown of industries in

constituency and think about how we might get them on and -- we might

get women involved in those. There is proportionate in the public

sector, and in the sort of low paid jobs that the Prime Minister

yesterday called menial. Wotld he agree with me that the failtre to

publish a response to consultation six months later is disrespdctful to

the many organisations and individuals who responded

consultation in the hopes of doing something about the situation. I am

sorry to hear her make both of those boys because it is not... Does macro

both of those points. I think actually what peopld want is

for us to get the Government response right, they want to make

sure that we have thought through the regulations and the imp`ct. I

said we will publish that shortly and that is what we will do. I hope

that the Minister and the whole house will welcome the establishment

of the all-party group on women and work, of which I am vice-ch`ir. I

know that she said a member of staff to the day. I hope that she will

resolve to work with the all-party group to look at the challenges

faced by women, looking at looking after children and there is possible

it is, looking at the gaps. I warmly welcome the parliament triggered.

Another group has set up about women in enterprise. I am glad thdy are

set up by parliamentarians. Of course, the ministers and I will

work with all of the groups. She is right, the research yesterd`y, was

evidence given to the all-p`rty group, it is harder to get back into

the workplace after maternity leave. Number 11, Mr Speaker. On p`ge

carers are the unsung heroes of our society. That is why the 2004 care

act gave carers knew right `m focusing on their well-being,

including their employment. In 015, the Government extended the right to

request flexible working ard good and we are also investing ?0.6

million in nine pilot sites, exploring ways to support pdople who

are combining work and caring response of the 80s. I thank her for

her response was up according to a recent report from the Department of

Health, the costs have been estimated to be around...

refers to was a landmark in demonstrating the business case for

investing in camera friendlx policies. This government h`s been

working to raise awareness `mongst employers of this issue and of the

cost of leaving this issue unaddressed. The pilot schele, 1.6

million, will be invaluable in helping us establish the rest forms

of support for carers and also backing the employers for c`rers

report, which provides resotrces to implement carer friendly policies.

The government has announced ?4 million of funding for domestic

abuse services, as well as ` ?2 million grant to support early

intervention. We will shortly publish a strategy to identhfy how

we will do more to identify long-term funding for these services

and support for victims. Whhlst the government funding is welcole, a

long-term sustainable appro`ch is needed. What discussions has the

Minister had with service providers about long-term solutions and what

does the Minister considered to be long-term in these situations? It is

nice to see him there, even if not on the front bench. I have taken

part in the number of round tables with service providers,

commissioners and others to make sure we understand the issuds

service providers and commissioners service providers and commissioners

face and to look at the long-term solution. He right. Service

providers need to know therd are funding is sustainable so they can

continue delivering services and focus on victims. We appointed Lord

Davies in 2010 and have fully supported his work. We welcomed his

final report and back his ndw recommendations for business led 33%

targets for FTS to boards. Could I ask what plans government House to

ensure businesses of all sizes understand the financial and

productivity benefits of having a diverse make up of senior tdams

Companies with more diverse boards are more responsive to the larket

and can access the wider talent pool. It is better for business We

will progress with our business led government supported approach, but

we are not complacent by anx means. We will continue to liaise with all

sides to push this forward. There are gender differences over a range

of health outcomes. Women lhve longer than men but that gap is

closing. We are promoting hdalthier lifestyles. Action is led locally to

ensure there are solutions to local gender and other health inepuality.

Female suicide rates have ddcreased, but male suicide rates have remained

stubbornly high. 130,000 men have committed suicide. What will she do

with the Department of Health to tackle the serious problem? The

Health Minister was keen to beat today but is at an LGB T conference.

This is an important issue. The Prime Minister's commitment to

invest in mental health services this week will be important in this

space. Will the leader of the out campaign give us the business