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to the Labour Party support for them. Questions to the Minister for | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Women and Equalities. Question number one. The Secretary of State | :00:00. | :00:13. | |
fully understand his obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and his | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
public sector equality duty. He is aware that he must pay due regard to | :00:18. | :00:20. | |
each of the statutory equality objectives. They cover all the | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
protective characteristics and not just those that affect women. The | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
new contract is a huge step forward to achieving fairness for all | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
trainee doctors. The first time doctors will pupil paid and rewarded | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
solely on the base of the own hard work and achievement whether they | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
work full or part-time. Peer group pressure will be linked to the | :00:38. | :00:39. | |
number of training. I have understood the minister was | :00:40. | :00:49. | |
sitting to put this question was number 16? I received advice that | :00:50. | :01:05. | |
was not possible. It is possible. Paul R Sheriff. I thank the Minister | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
for his response, however by next year at the majority of doctors | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
within our NHS will be women yet the Government has admitted in its own | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
assessment of the junior doctor contract aspects of the new contract | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
will disproportionately hit female doctors. How can the Department of | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
women and equality is possibly condone this shocking treatment? Ice | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
back the honourable lady for bringing this matter to the | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
attention of the house and I know she won't want to read the full | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
assessment over the weekend and find that if she does so the impact | :01:41. | :01:46. | |
assessment makes clear that contract is good for woman, a fairer | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
contract, and it does not directly or indirectly discriminate against | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
women. That is why I am keen to see it implemented as fast as possible. | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
Thank you for ruining my question in order. What estimate has been made | :02:01. | :02:07. | |
in the expected drop in women doctors five years after this | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
contact has been imposed on how were the skills gap be filled? Because we | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
anticipate this contract is better for women in a series of different | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
ways we expect women to be able to engage more easily with the | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
workforce than other the previous contract and we believe it is better | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
for working mothers, woman taking time out for maternity leave and for | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
those reasons we hope this will reinforce the continued progression | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
of women in the medical workforce. Can the Minister confirm the new | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
contract will mean those who work the most insights and unsocial hours | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
will be better rewarded? I can confirm that and it will also mature | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
women will not be subjected to the enormously onerous hours which are | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
enforced under the current contract which make the balance of work and | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
family life impossible. Can my honourable friend and from under the | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
existing contract to doctors doing the same job at the same level of | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
responsibility and save hours can be paid differently but under the new | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
contract the total number of hours that can be work will be reduced | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
from 91 to 72 and this will be especially welcome by female doctors | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
was like I can confirm that and it shows my honourable friend attention | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
to detail for the contract. It should be made clear to the house | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
the BMA agreed almost all of the contract we are now putting in | :03:37. | :03:39. | |
place, including many of the aspects of the opposition are seeking to | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
attack. I am surprised to hear both the minister today and the Prime | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
Minister yesterday and Prime Minister 's's questions clinic this | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
contact is good for a woman when the equality and fact assessment | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
provided by the Minister's or officials specifically says it will | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
have a disproportionate impact on woman and the Minister will not be | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
surprised to hear I have read the assessment in detail. Can I ask the | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
Minister how it can be right to introduce a contract and is it in | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
Parliament in February and on the stake out the equality impact | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
assessment six weeks later, during a recess. -- sneak out. Will he now | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
get back to the negotiating table and negotiate a contract good for | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
patients and all junior doctors? The honourable lady is an expert in the | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
history of equality impact assessments and she understand it | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
well and I must reassure the bat through the entirety of this process | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
the secretary of state as being mindful of his duties under the act | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
and he is very keen to make sure this conflict is good for women | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
which is why at every stage, both in negotiations with the BMA as in | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
several discussions, he was mindful of his duties and make sure the | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
contract is an improvement on existing one. We can return to | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
negotiations with a party that does not wish to talk and I would urge | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
her to get her colleagues to condemn the completely unnecessary action at | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
the BMA has taken, endangering patients. Web promotion I will take | :05:15. | :05:25. | |
this question along with number six. -- with permission. The new state | :05:26. | :05:33. | |
pension is more generous to many woman than the previous system. In | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
the first ten years and 650,000 women were losing ?8 per week more | :05:39. | :05:41. | |
on average due to the new state pension valuation. -- well earned | :05:42. | :05:50. | |
that. -- will air an eight more a week. Is the Minister aware of the | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
case of a Dutch woman who was affected with the change to her | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
retirement age and it was about that woman had her human rights breached. | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
Could the ministers say everything is woman in this country have had | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
their human rights breach by the actions of his Government? May edit | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
out the honourable lady she will be aware the Dutch authorities are | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
appealing that decision. Nobody denies the state pension age needed | :06:21. | :06:23. | |
transitional arrangements that the Government have have not put in | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
place that has caused much consternation and I kept wondering | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
that is cynical calculation has been made that these would anyone have | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
reached time it is by the next general election. But the Government | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
genuinely believed the transitional arrangements are fair, yes or no? | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
The transitional arrangements put in place in 2011 were debated in both | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
houses, the honourable gentleman will be aware that initially it was | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
proposed the equalisation should be fast tracked by two years. Subject | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
to various debates following intensive negotiations that was | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
reduced to 18 months at a cost to the Treasury of ?1.1 billion. | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
Transitional arrangements were made in 2011 and the Government has no | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
plans to renew it. This is about women and equalities and we know the | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
situation today is a woman born in early 1950s it will already have | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
retired, a woman born in early 1954 is not gone to retire after the | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
second half of 2019, two and years later. That be right. What the | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
Minister not look at this again. -- that can be right. And give solace | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
to the woman with the unfair amount of time to collect the pension? We | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
must accept equalisation was necessarily because we were required | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
to do so by European Union directive and also be part living longer, | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
woman on the whole recognise we need to equalise the state pension age | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
and we are actually not as fast as some other countries such as Germany | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
and Denmark, who have already achieved where we are still seeking | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
to go. Following the resignation of the previous Secretary of State for | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
Work Pensions. The pensions minister stated he was often | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
obstructed by efforts to resolve important issues, such as an woman's | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
pensions. Now the main impediment to change has been removed from | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
Government, when can we expect an update on the progress for these | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
women have been unfairly treated for so long? I do not agree with the | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
assessment of the honourable lady and an hat I have said in my | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
previous answer the Government does not intend to do this because it was | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
heavily debated and dealt with in 2011. Are you intending to a second | :08:48. | :09:00. | |
question? She is. I thank the Minister for his response but it | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
begs the question, what is the purpose of this the Bartlett and | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
indeed this ministerial role if it is not addressing the inequalities | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
that exist in this country? We have a 40 bits on the issue, 186,000 | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
people have signed a petition, we voted in this house to greet the | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
policy is unfair and after all of this why is the Minister still | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
prepared to defend an indefensible position? The honourable lady was | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
not in the house in 2011 but this issue was heavily debated and the | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
vote taken any Backbench Business Committee, she knows only too well | :09:41. | :09:43. | |
the point of order was raised after that the bit and the person sitting | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
in the chair at the time happen to be discussed and former chairman of | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
the Backbench Business Committee and she made it clear votes taken after | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
votes tabled by the Backbench Business Committee are not binding | :09:59. | :10:06. | |
by the Government. With permission I would like to group this question | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
with the question ten. The 20 16th budget to help 790,000 women and | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
540,000 men by cutting their contacts to zero. It helped 7.4 | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
million women and 5.6 million men with an increase in the state | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
pension thanks to travel a lot, millions of men and women by | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
freezing fuel duty and the national living wage gave an immediate pay | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
rise to 900,000 women and I men this month. -- 500,000 men. The Labour | :10:39. | :10:47. | |
Party has commissioned research showing since 2010 86% of the total | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
amount of cash saved from benefit changes are comparable woman, | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
disproportionately. That has now increased by 5%. How much more do | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
women have to take the brunt of this Government before action is taken? | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
Are we completely do not accept this analysis which, by the way, has not | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
been published and appears to take into account the fact that the child | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
benefit of higher rate women like myself has been removed. Busy making | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
the case that higher rates child benefit should be returned to higher | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
rates the taxpayers. -- is he making the case? It has not even been | :11:34. | :11:42. | |
published and similar analysis assumes extra Government borrowing | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
can make everybody better off. That does sound like the Labour Party. | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
The Government's own figures show since 2010 women have, there has | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
been a big drop in women taking cases to the tribunal, more than | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
10,000. In that same period there has been at increase in men taking | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
cases to the tribunal. Can the minister explain these figures? I | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
would of thought she would welcome the fact that the gender pay gap is | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
narrowing so much and the steps we have taken any 20 16th budget would | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
increase the pay of 900,000 women mean that gender pay gap at the | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
lowest paid well have been eliminated by 2020. Does the | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
Minister agree the Chancellor's measures on small business rates | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
will be massively beneficial to businesses around the country? I | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
agree with the honourable gentleman and would also point out that we are | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
also making substantial progress in terms of the number of women owns | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
and women managed businesses in this country, something I believe will | :12:55. | :12:57. | |
also lead to greater gender equality. On the set of the house we | :12:58. | :13:06. | |
welcome the budget announcement about the removal of VAT on tampons, | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
a campaign led by my honourable friend. However given that the | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
Chancellor previously reassured me that ?15 million raised from this | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
tax would be providing funds to domestic violence charities and | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
woman's refuges, canny minister clarify at the budget included a ?15 | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
million cut the woman was like charities. -- can the Minister | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
confirm. And where is the Government's plan for long-term | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
woman was like safety? I can confirm the ?15 million in budget 2016 will | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
be allocated to the charities he announced and we have also announced | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
a further ?80 million and Serbs of support for these kinds of | :13:52. | :13:54. | |
initiatives to tackle violence against women. Number five, Mr | :13:55. | :14:04. | |
Speaker. I want to start by thanking the equality and human rights | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
commission for their research and the report. The Government had | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
accepted the majority of the recommendations and will work with | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
them and employers to put up discrimination against pregnant | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
women in the workplace. I welcome the Minister's answer. I am aware of | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
a number of cases of new mothers in my constituency who have lost their | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
job after giving birth or experience other form of discrimination at | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
work. Well he set out a timescale for the implementation of the | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
recommendations from the equalities and human rights work and will be | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
set up an opportunity, create an opportunity for a debate on that | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
work and those recommendations in the house? I am very happy to take | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
up what the mood of the house the possibility of such a debate because | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
I would welcome it and I think this report made for some depressing | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
reading in some respects. While it was welcomed at 84% of employers | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
think it is important to support pregnant woman and new mothers, it | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
was depressing that three in four mothers interviewed said they had a | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
negative or possibly discover that only experienced during pregnancy. | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
We must achieve is a wholesale change in culture and that is why I | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
would resist putting a time frame on the implementation of the changing | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
culture because governments on their own can change that culture but I | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
think a debate on how we can all work together to do so would be very | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
welcome. Many women still face difficult decisions when it comes to | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
having a child and in places like London warehouse prices are very | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
high working part-time is not an option. What is Government doing to | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
encourage businesses to approach a moderate report and balance work and | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
family life with flexible hours were possible? | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
That I know he will welcome the introduction of the right to request | :16:03. | :16:09. | |
flexible working and also the Government interventions to provide | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
further childcare support for working women of all ages and of all | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
income levels and I do believe that will help women who want to be able | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
to balance indentured in the workplace with bringing up young | :16:23. | :16:23. | |
children. I will answer this question would | :16:24. | :16:38. | |
question eight. We want every young person regardless of their sexual | :16:39. | :16:40. | |
orientation to reach their full potential. That is why in March I | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
announced a further million pound front to address homophobic, trans | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
phobic bullying in addition to what I announced in 2014. Research | :16:51. | :17:01. | |
showing that 35% of young LGBT children experiencing bullying, what | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
else will they be doing to ensure those issues are covered in the | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
curriculum as well? He is right to say about the 55% figure. That is a | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
drop from 65% in 2007 but we cannot be complacent. 96% of LGB pupils | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
reported hearing homophobic language in school in 2012. Some excellent | :17:24. | :17:32. | |
new guidance has been produced on diversity and relationships in their | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
programme of study. As well that the support for helping teachers to | :17:37. | :17:37. | |
tackle issues around bullying, it is targeted at LGBT pupils and | :17:38. | :17:49. | |
all of their colleagues and it is very important. The Albert Kennedy | :17:50. | :17:59. | |
trust, the research has identified that 24% of the homeless youth | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
population are LGBT. That is a very disturbing figure but the Government | :18:06. | :18:08. | |
is planning to cut housing benefit for people under the age of 21. Does | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
the Secretary of State think that the situation is going to get worse | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
or better for those young people? As he says we have given 48,000 pounds | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
to the Albert Kennedy trust in 2014-15 to develop a national online | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
mentoring service. We have also predicted Thomas responding, | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
provincial funding for local authorities totalling ?313 million | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
by the end of this Parliament. Transit young people experience on | :18:38. | :18:45. | |
-- trans. Unacceptable does commission in our country. Three | :18:46. | :18:48. | |
months ago the women and equality his search Committee published a | :18:49. | :18:50. | |
ground breaking report outlining more than 30 recommendations to | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
improve the lives of trans people. When can we expect a response from | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
the Government? Can I thank my Right Honourable friend very much indeed? | :19:03. | :19:05. | |
I had the pleasure last week of visiting the young transgender | :19:06. | :19:07. | |
centre of excellence that has just been opened by the LGBT centre in | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
Leicester funded by the BBC children in need. She is right to mention the | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
ground-breaking report that hurt Committee published. She mentioned | :19:17. | :19:18. | |
the 30 recommendations we are through. I'm sure she like me was to | :19:19. | :19:24. | |
make sure that when we respond we do so in a full and open way. The | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
report is going to very significant changes to the law, context changes | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
to the NHS and changes to policy practices for more than a dozen | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
public bodies and want to make sure we get the response rate. This | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
government and the Prime Minister in particular have done great things | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
for equality for LGBT people particularly with regard to gay | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
marriage but there is still one area of terrible inequality. The area is | :19:49. | :19:56. | |
that you can have a promiscuous straight man having sex with | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
different women every night yet they can give blood. You can have a gay | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
guy in a monogamous relationship and yet he is completely forbidden to | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
donate blood unless he is prepared to certify that he has been celibate | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
for 12 months. This is medical and scientific nonsense. It is also | :20:20. | :20:26. | |
unfair. When will this change? Can I thank him very much indeed? We have | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
discussed this before and I have disgusted cerebral times now with | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
the Minister for health and I know -- discussed it several times. We | :20:35. | :20:41. | |
have looked at the lifetime ban on blood donation. As he will note the | :20:42. | :20:49. | |
setting of guidelines is reviewing the evidence and policy and we will | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
expect to hear sooner rather than later. Earlier this year LGBT mental | :20:53. | :21:01. | |
health charity pace was forced to close citing cuts to the local | :21:02. | :21:08. | |
authority budget as a major factor. Given it had previously identified | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
that more than a third of LGBT young people had made at least one suicide | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
attempt to their own life, does the Minister share my concerns about the | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
level of mental health support currently available to LGBT people? | :21:22. | :21:28. | |
Can I thank her for her question? I think members across the House will | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
know of my long-standing interest in mental health issues to all young | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
people and the priority we give that in the Department for Education and | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
also into the Government equalities office. In the current financial | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
year we provided a 4.9 million pounds to 17 voluntary civil society | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
projects, for children with mental health issues including almost a | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
quarter million pounds to the Metrocentre to establish services | :21:57. | :21:58. | |
and those people working across London and Kent. We are looking at | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
what we can do in this financial year to make sure that services will | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
continue to be funded and I will work with my colleagues in the | :22:06. | :22:07. | |
dependent -- in the Department of Health to make sure that all ages | :22:08. | :22:19. | |
get the support they need. Caught by surprise, thank you. Last July... | :22:20. | :22:34. | |
Just to say, question 11. Build-up. We are absolutely committed to | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
emulating the gender came back with the new generation with where we | :22:40. | :22:42. | |
require larger employers to publish the gender pay and bonus caps as | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
well. We will support all businesses to do this regardless of their size | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
with a happy million pounds package including UK wide conference events, | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
online software and of course targeted support to some of the male | :22:55. | :22:57. | |
dominated sectors. We also have the think act report initiative which is | :22:58. | :23:06. | |
available to businesses of any size. Last July the Prime Minister | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
promised that companies with more than 250 employees would have to | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
disclose their gender pay gap. This has already been pushed back by two | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
month and is a rip the chartered Institute of personnel and | :23:18. | :23:19. | |
development found that only one in four firms has done any analysis on | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
this at all. Does the Minister think progress on this is good enough and | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
what is going to be done about it? Of course this is more progress than | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
we have had in any previous government but the Government is not | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
complacent about this. The gender pay gap is at the lowest on record | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
and virtually eliminated by women working full-time under the age of | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
40 but this is why we have brought forward this quite demanding | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
regulation, larger employers will have to publish both their gender | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
pay gap and their bonus pay gap and why we have released a big package | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
of support to enable us to support them through this progress. Since | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
the Government introduced tribunal fee is the number of equal pay | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
claims has fallen dramatically. The Government talks the talk on equal | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
pay but why are they making it more difficult for women to challenge | :24:10. | :24:17. | |
unfair pay claims? First of all we are reviewing this at the moment. | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
But the honourable gentleman must be aware that actually many more cases | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
are going through ACAS, over 80,000 cases last year and surely he would | :24:27. | :24:29. | |
agree that actually it is much better sorting something out in a | :24:30. | :24:37. | |
mediation, in a friendly and consolidate three way so that people | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
are able to go back into their workplace without the stigma or any | :24:41. | :24:51. | |
form of hostility. The Government set out its assessment of the impact | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
on the welfare policies in the welfare reform and work act on the | :24:57. | :24:59. | |
20th of July last year. Spending in real terms on disabled people will | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
be higher in every year to the 20 dan 2010. The Select Committee 's | :25:05. | :25:12. | |
report published last month that the Government through inaction on the | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
equality through spending cuts, cuts to legal aid and its red cape | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
challenge removing protections is disproportionately hurting disabled | :25:24. | :25:25. | |
people. Will this government apologise by the lack of respect and | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
complete content to disabled people? -- contempt. This government is | :25:32. | :25:38. | |
spending ?50 billion every year on benefits along to support people | :25:39. | :25:41. | |
with disabilities or health condition. That is over 6% of | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
government spending. I think that answers the question very clearly. | :25:46. | :25:54. | |
Research by Unison indicates that no group will be more adversely | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
affected by welfare reform than people with disabilities. We are at | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
risk of progressing on issues of equality. When will the Government | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
actively keyed the voice of people with disabilities and reverse these | :26:09. | :26:15. | |
damaging policies? May just remind the honourable lady that this | :26:16. | :26:18. | |
government has done more for disabled people than any government | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
before? I have just stated the amount of money for stop I just | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
stated the amount of money that this government is spending and may I | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
just say that under this government there are now over a 3.2 million | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
disabled people in employment. Employment is something that helps | :26:40. | :26:42. | |
people have more fulfilled lives. We didn't give up on people, we don't | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
give up on people like the parties opposite. | :26:46. | :26:58. | |
The honourable gentleman will be aware that there is a | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
post-implantation review of the introduction of fees in the | :27:04. | :27:05. | |
employment tribunal 's. This will consider so far as possible the | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
impact the fees have had on those with the characteristics who use the | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
Roman tribune yours and it heads of case they bring. The review has | :27:13. | :27:19. | |
apparently be on the Minister desk since every so I hope we hear the | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
outcome soon. According to the equality and Human Rights Commission | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
less than 1% of the charity disco commission clears proceed to an | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
employment tribunal. 99 of every 100 and who are discriminated against | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
because of the busy having no legal redress. If the measure proud of | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
that or is it? May I say to him that pregnancy and maternity | :27:42. | :27:43. | |
discrimination is unlawful and totally unacceptable. That is why | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
this government and the equality and humanise commission jointly funded | :27:50. | :27:51. | |
independent research into the matter. I can assure the honourable | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
gentleman but the review taking place at the moment will take into | :27:57. | :27:59. | |
account some of the findings of that research. Increasing diversity is | :28:00. | :28:10. | |
essential for appointing the best public people to our boards. We are | :28:11. | :28:13. | |
making real progress in increasing the number of women appointed with | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
44% of new appointments in 2014-15 made to women, up from 39% in | :28:19. | :28:26. | |
2013-14. The steps we have taken to increase diversity include | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
streamlining the application process, increasing awareness of | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
opportunities to outreach and other events, a central website and use of | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
social media. We have introduced unconscious bias training for senior | :28:40. | :28:42. | |
personnel in the Cabinet office including permanent secretaries and | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
senior ministers. I thank him for that confluence of reply which was | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
preceded by supplementary, but I would like to mention that I wonder | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
whether it is a lack of confidence in some cases that inhibits women | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
from making an application for public appointment and whether | :29:03. | :29:04. | |
perhaps more can be done to communicate the woman that their | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
applications are indeed encouraged and will be successful? It is | :29:09. | :29:14. | |
important that we get the best people into or public appointments | :29:15. | :29:20. | |
and women play an absolutely crucial role in doing that. What we have | :29:21. | :29:23. | |
done is we have received recently a report from Sir Jerry Brimstone and | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
that was designed to make appointment process is much more | :29:29. | :29:31. | |
efficient, much more effective and streamlined. I can tell my | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
honourable friend that we have now hit the highest figures ever | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
recorded for women in public appointments but we haven't done | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
enough. We still want to go much further and we want to hit that | :29:45. | :29:56. | |
target of 50% we have set ourselves. Closing the gender pay gap is of | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
course good for women but also employers and our economy which is | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
why we require large employers to publish their pay gap data. | :30:05. | :30:07. | |
Occupational segregation is one of the main causes of that pay gap and | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
that is why we have announced an ambition to see a 20% increase in | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
girls taking A-level maths and science by 2020. A continuing cause | :30:15. | :30:24. | |
of the pay gap is the lower incidence of woman studying science | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
and engineering at University banned men. To close that it gap is a | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
pre-requisite to closing the pay gap, which she agree? He is | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
absolutely right that jobs in stem gather a significant wage premium | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
and while women make up 50% of stem undergraduates that doesn't | :30:46. | :30:48. | |
translate into the workplace, which is why we have set up a new career | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
as an enterprise company bringing schools and businesses together to | :30:53. | :30:54. | |
inspire and inform young people but also published guidance called your | :30:55. | :30:59. | |
daughter's future to help parents guide their daughters in subject and | :31:00. | :31:00. | |
career choices. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The committee | :31:01. | :31:09. | |
reimportant on the gender pay gap showed strong and compelling | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
evidence that increasing the availability of well paid flexible | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
work would make a significant difference to reducing the gender | :31:18. | :31:20. | |
pay gap. What is the Government going to be doing to make flexible | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
work easy and to encourage employers to offer it from the date of | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
appointment rather than having to wait six months? Well, the | :31:30. | :31:35. | |
honourable lady is right, which is why this Government has done more | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
than any before to extend the right to flexible working to all | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
employees. We will continue to work with businesses to encourage them to | :31:44. | :31:46. | |
get the very best out of every single one of their staff. Mr | :31:47. | :31:53. | |
Speaker, the private sector has made progress in gender equality in | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
recent years. There is a big problem. Research has proven there | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
are more man called Andrew, David and John in senior positions in the | :32:03. | :32:06. | |
FTSE-100 than there are women. What more can the Government to do to | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
insenz tiez good practise and better gender equality in the FTSE-100? | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
Yes, Mr Speaker, the answer is not to change the name of the men as | :32:17. | :32:23. | |
somebody has suggested! More Carolines! | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
The honourable gentleman is right, which is why this Government has | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
done more than ever before tone courage the FTSE-100 to address that | :32:32. | :32:38. | |
issue. We now have no all-male boards in the FTSE-100. The next | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
stage is to look at this pipeline and make sure we are encouraging | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
women every step to make sure we have more women on board than ever | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
before. THE SPEAKER: The shadow leader of | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
the House. Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
business, please? Mr Speaker if you allow me to say that I think the | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
shadow leader, myself and the SNP spokesman all have something in | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
common this morning. We should feel anxious after the march of the | :33:11. | :33:13. | |
deputies before the recess. I would like to congratulate all three for | :33:14. | :33:18. | |
doing a star turn in that last session before recess. There will be | :33:19. | :33:25. | |
another opportunity as well. Monday 18th April there'll be a debate on | :33:26. | :33:28. | |
the introduction of the national living wage and related changes to | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
employee | :33:32. | :33:32. |