Live Women and Equalities Questions House of Commons

authorities.

The man has exceeded

supply as is common place and we

must now move on, questions to the

Minister for women's under Harrison.

Question number one Mr Speaker.

The

Minister for women and equality is,

Amber Rudd.

Thank you Mr Speaker, it

is good news that women now account

for over half of all

apprenticeships. We continue to

implement apprentice ship reforms to

improve the quality of

apprenticeships were all. We are

using the apply in pressured ships

debited to network two championship

greater improvement and

participation from women is still

needed.

Extremely interesting but I

think the minister was seeking to

greet this question with numbers

three and 12? That means yes. Good.

I thank the Secretary of State for

her response, the National College

for Nicola Robinson my neighbouring

constituency on the 9th of February,

this will add to the already

fantastic asset of trading

facilities with world-class

facilities Dara Khosrowshahi

equipment, what steps is the

government taking to ensure young

people with disabilities are able to

access the training courses and

apprenticeships?

I thank my

honourable friend for her question,

it is great news that colleges

opening shortly enabling young

people and others in the area to be

able to access the sort of education

they need to provide the skills

going into the future. We want to

insure apprenticeship opportunities

are open to all people and of course

that includes those with

disabilities. We provide additional

funding to employers and training

providers working with apprentices

with disabilities including to

support learning and enable

adjustments to the workplace. As

well as engaging employers through

the apprenticeship diversity

champions network we are working to

ensure disability confident badging

is clear for vacancies only find an

apprenticeship website including

engineering roles.

DfEE College and

the University in Chichester offer

courses giving young people in my

constituency access to high-quality

apprenticeships but only 21% of

places for degree level up

friendships in our filled by women.

Can my right honourable friend

advise which is doing to encourage

more women and girls to take up

apprenticeships as a pathway to a

successful career?

That is an

important point, it is not enough we

have over 50% of friendships taken

up by women, we want to ensure there

is greater diversity in particular

areas where at the moment we are

seeing a lower levels of female

participating than we would like.

The strategy sets out a long-term

plan to build a world-class careers

system helping young people and

adults choose the career that is

right for them and promoting gender

equality by increasing young

people's contact with employers.

Demonstrating different jobs and

career paths to raise aspirations.

In addition a new legal requirement

means schools must give providers

the chance to talk about technical

qualifications and apprenticeships.

In this way we hope to raise

awareness of the additional routes

available to young people.

I am

delighted 580 people started at

apprenticeships in Southend last

year but with my right honourable

friend please advise me what further

she can do to incentivise local

employers to offer even more

apprenticeships to women in

Southend?

Again, he raises the point

that we need to make sure women are

starting apprenticeships in the

variety of areas particularly in

Stem subjects where at the moment

they are underrepresented. Only

around 8% at the moment. We are

making sure we thought this

additional effort and working

through the approach of diversity

network working with employers to

make sure the show young people the

opportunities in other areas

particularly the stem areas.

The

pension Minister made insulting

comments to women born in the 1950s

telling them to take up

apprenticeships as a way to redress

some of the financial burden they

now face, can the new minister set

out how many women born in the 1950s

affected by the government pension

changes have taken up these

apprenticeships which are more than

an insult to all the women who

worked all those years?

I would like

to correct the honourable gentleman,

this government holy respect women

in their 50s. I have an interest to

declare in that particular area and

we will always make sure

apprenticeships are available to all

different ages between August 2016

and April 2017 the number of

apprenticeship starts were over

53,004 people aged 45 to 59 and for

people aged 60 and over it was over

3400, an increase in the previous

year and we hope to increase that.

Like in the rest of the United

Kingdom is problem for women in

Northern Ireland, can the Minister

outline what engagement she is

taking with departments and agencies

in Northern Ireland to identify best

practice and find workable solutions

to a laminating the barriers?

We

have legged Gull meetings with

ministers from Northern Ireland and

we will always make sure we share

information where we can and best

practice so that women and other

people who want to participate in

apprenticeships, people with

disabilities for instance, can also

make sure they access the additional

opportunities we are determined to

provide.

Minister are you aware of

the opportunity to the latest report

from the young woman's trust which

shows two in five apprentices spend

more money completing their

apprenticeship than they earn with

women facing an 8% gender pay gap?

Is the most prepared to increase the

number of women accessing

high-quality apprenticeships.

It is

essential we give women all the

opportunities they can to access

high-quality apprenticeships

referred to. I have not seen that

report but I will certainly take a

look and come back to him.

Number

two Mr Speaker.

The government is

fully committed to protecting

victims of domestic abuse and to

improving sustainability of funding

for refugees. The Ministry of

Housing has launched a £20 million

domestic abuse accommodation fund

which is supporting 76 projects

creating 2200 new bed spaces over

the next two years and supporting

more than 19,000 women. Some of that

money coming to Manchester.

A

constituent described hell on earth

as a loved one looked for a refugee

to protect her from domestic

violence. Thankfully they found a

space eventually but the new funding

model being proposed risks producing

a postcode lottery so how will the

Minister ensure the provisions in

her constituency are no different

from mine?

May I correct the

honourable gentleman, with respect,

we want to make sure areas across

the country share the same best

practice that the Ministry of

Housing is consulting on how we fund

refuge's sustainably. When victims

enable honourable states go to

refuges are not having to fill in

housing benefit forms in the middle

of all the crisis they are finding.

May I declare an interest as my wife

volunteers at a refuge. Can my

honourable friend ensure the house

that ministers have met with

organisations such as Women's Aid to

ensure their views on the new

funding model are properly listened

to and considered?

I thank my

honourable friend for his question

and for the work is wife does but

also every person who works in our

domestic abuse refuge. We are

working and meeting with Women's Aid

and other organisations. I am

determined to ensure the future of

refuge's is funded sustainably and I

would urge anyone to respond to the

consultation.

The proposed changes

to housing benefit will leave

refuges in a troublesome was flick

position. If this government is

serious about protecting victims

they have to put more money into

specialist services, what commitment

will they make to see look at

increasing funding for specialist

refuges?

As I say we have the £20

million domestic abuse fund which DC

G is overlooking and we are as the

lady now is consulting on the draft

domestic abuse bill this year and I

hope that consultation will start

soon and I would welcome, the

government would welcome responses

from those industry. We are

absolutely committed to funding

refuges properly and I am pleased we

have are the 10% rise in bed spaces

since 2010.

Number four Mr Speaker.

The Sawyers report which highlights

many of the issues women face in the

workplace particularly the gender

pay gap in Scotland, it's at a near

record low but must be eradicated

completely. The Secretary of State

regularly meets Cabinet colleagues

to discuss such important issues.

The report was intended to be the

start of a process, a road marked

for the engagement of women in

Scotland's economy, it was not an

end in itself. Can I suggest to the

ministers she would be well advised

to meet Professor Sawyers and

discuss how her report can be taken

forward in government?

That is a

pleasant suggestion and I look

forward to meeting her in due

course.

Number five.

The year of

engineering is an opportunity to

tackle historic gender stereotypes

throughout 2018, the campaign will

highlight the variety and creativity

in engineering to improve the

understanding of what engineers do

and the enormous opportunities of a

career in engineering to both young

men and women.

I thank the Minister

for that answer. It is a vital

employment sector for residents in

mid-charge -- Mid Derbyshire. Can my

honourable friend update the house

of which external parties in

Derbyshire who signed up campaign?

My honourable friend has almost

answered the question for me.

Rolls-Royce, Bombardier and Toyota

have all pledged to support the

campaign throughout activities in

schools, both nationwide and in the

Derby area.

One of the biggest

barriers to women and girls entering

careers in engineering and physics

is the perception and expectations

of parents, I would ask the Minister

to encourage parents to look at the

career options.

a a and honourable lady is quite

right but we have been quite

successful because -- the honourable

lady is quite right. Girls' entry

into A-level physics has risen

overall as well and overall the

number of girls taking stem A-levels

has increased by 20% since 2010.

As

well as ensuring career advice

encourages more women into

engineering it is also worth looking

at financial incentives to see how

the apprentice sector is working to

encourage more companies to offer

apprenticeships in engineering.

We

introduced the apprenticeship levy

in order to boost the importance of

apprenticeships. We delivered more

than 2 million in the last

Parliament, and we are committed to

3 million apprenticeship starts in

this parliament because this is a

Government committed to high quality

skills in our economy and the

apprenticeship programme is part and

parcel of that ambition.

For all budgets, Treasury ministers

very carefully assess the gender

impact of the various measures under

consideration, as a statutory duty

but also because it is our foreign

policy to do so. In the budget, one

of our centrepieces was the increase

in the national living wage by 4.4%,

from this April, which will

disproportionately benefit women.

Women are still bearing the brunt of

the Government's failed austerity

agenda. What assessment of the

Minister make about the financial

impact of the autumn budget on women

and those with protected

characteristics?

Well, the Government, as the

honourable member will know, is

constantly carrying out assessments.

Around all the school events there

are those kind of assessment, but I

would point not only to the national

living wage increase that

disproportionately benefit women,

but the personal allowance increase

that takes many women out of tax

altogether, and that we are spending

will be by 2019 and 2020 some £6

billion per year on childcare, a

record level of expenditure.

I

finally received a letter from the

Government equalities office in

regard to equalities impact

assessment. If, as the Minister has

just stated, the impact assessment

was carried out, it would have

showed that 86% of the Government

cuts would have fallen on women.

Why, then, did the Government

continue with these damaging

policies?

As I have pointed out

there are many measures the

Government has taken, and I have

just listed some in the recent

budget, that specifically assist

women around issues like childcare,

the personal tax allowance increases

and of course the national living

wage increase that will come in from

this April. We will continue to very

vigorously assess all measures, as

we do around all physical events, to

ensure women are treated fairly and

are an absolute priority for this

Government.

Discrimination against pregnant

women and new mothers is totally

unacceptable. However, research

which the Government has

commissioned with the equalities and

human rights commission did not

suggest the three month time limit

of bringing a claim to an employment

tribunal was a particular barrier to

pregnant women and new mothers,

however the rules permit an

extension to that time limit is

needed, and of course we will

continue further guidance on this if

that would be helpful.

What steps is this Government taking

to prevent further job losses after

the new reports expose that on

average 54,000 new mothers lose

their jobs because of maternity disc

rumination?

We have to make sure the message is

clear that this discolouration is

wholly unacceptable -- because of

maternity discrimination. We have to

give women the courage to put

forward a claim if it is appropriate

but the message from Government is

clear to employers, it is not

acceptable.

In response to the women

and equalities Select Committee

report the Government has already

agreed to act on this issue, but

could my honourable friend update

that House on whether the president

of the employment tribunal will be

issuing guidance on this? And also,

the honourable member has also

agreed to start collecting data on

applications for time extensions on

maternity cases. Could you perhaps

undertake to update the House in the

future on the progress of that?

In relation to... I know that late

in 2016 the Select Committee of

which the honourable lady is the

chair published a report on this and

the recommendations were considered,

and the research we commissioned

with the EH IC did not suggest the

three month time limit for bringing

a claim to the employment Tribunal

is a buyer, but I will of course

look into it and write to the

honourable lady -- the EHRC.

Can I

welcome the new equalities minister

to place and pay tribute the

honourable member for Putney for her

role? The Justice committee was

joined in calling for an extension

of the deadline from three to six

months and in response the

Government said it would keep the

timeline for claims to be submitted

under review and we have heard a

continuation of that narrative is

today. Since the statement, the

Supreme Court ruling issued that the

UK must abolish tribunal fees and

repay those who made that claim. It

is therefore now not attempt to make

a -- is it not know the time to make

a full review of that, remove the

barriers and make a serious

commitment to increasing that time

limit to six months?

As I said, the

Government continues to keep this

under review. Following the Supreme

Court judgment on employment

tribunal fees, we charging fees

immediately, and arrangements are

being put in place by the Ministry

of Justice in relation to refunding

those who have paid fees in the

past, but as I say this point on the

scrimmage against new mothers and

pregnant women is very much being

kept under review. -- on

discrimination against new mothers.

This year marks a milestone in our

democracy. We will celebrate the

achievements of outstanding women

who fought for gender equality. The

Scottish Government is receiving

centenary funding through the

application of the Barnett Formula.

The Government equalities office has

monthly meetings with the devolved

administrations who are responsible

for how they choose to mark the

centenary in their respective

nations.

I would like to commend

this Government in establishing the

centenary fund to ensure this

important milestone is Mark. Having

written to the Scottish Government

minister last year with no response,

does the Minister share my belief

that the devolved administration

should spend the funds the allocated

to make sure the centenary is

properly celebrated in all parts of

our United Kingdom?

Women across the

UK went to the ballot boxes for the

first time in 1918. All four nations

contributed to that landmark change.

The Scottish Government, like the

Welsh and Northern Ireland

volley-mac Irish are responsible for

how they choose to mark the

centenary in their respective

nations -- like the Welsh assembly

and Northern Ireland assembly are

responsible. I cannot understand why

they would not also want to mark

this great celebration in an

important way.

Does the right

honourable lady see a fitting

tribute to the great women elected

last year would be to ported in the

House of Commons of Winnie Ewing?

Mr

Speaker, I am sure you will want to

listen carefully as well to that

suggestion because I understand it

is a matter for your committee?

It

is a very important committee and I

have a feeling the lady will be to

her way towards it, so pitch in

person and I am sure the committee

looks forward to that prospect with

eager anticipation.

Question number

nine.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I

should perhaps begin by declaring an

interest because Mrs Griffin and I

are expecting our first child in

April and as the minister

responsible I will be taking my full

paternity leave. Mr Speaker, shared

parental leave and pay was developed

by the then coalition Government. It

enables working couples to share

childcare responsibility in the

first year. This is a radical step

forward in terms of challenging

cultural expectations about the

roles of men and women, and the

mother is always the primary carer.

This Government understands the

pressures on working families and we

are taking steps to improve ass

improve the deck above the scheme

and I will see more about it in due

course.

While I welcome the comments

and agree it was a radical step

making a difference, if they were

fathers only get the mother's basic

maternity pay and it is not enhanced

in anyway so there has been less

than 1% uptake in the scheme? Would

administer now look into this, in

light of the court ruling as well,

with national rail?

There would be

increasing costs and a business if

we increase the rate of paternal pay

and we not ruling this out but it is

important we understand the facts

before changing any policy. I am

sure she will be pleased to know

that under this Government we have

done a huge amount to support both

fathers and mothers in relation to

parental leave. We have cut income

tax for more than 13 million women,

introduced tax free childcare,

increased tax carer for 3- 4 euros

to 30 hours a week and encouraging

people to return after a time-out.

This is a Government that

understands the pressures on working

families -- three and four-year-olds

to 30 hours a week.

Question number

ten.

The Home Office coordinates the

approach to tackling domestic abuse

to our violence against women and

girls strategy which has committed

increased funding of £100 million to

support victims.

The Scottish

Government are providing essential

training to around 14,000 police

officers in order to help coercive

control. -- help them spot coercive

control. What explains how she had

in her home offers real doing

training for police in England and

Wales? -- what explains how she had

in her home offers role with

training.

I don't know if the

Minister will admit talking to

herself, but I think we are about to

discover.

I will draw a veil over

that particular assumption, but we

have drawn a veil over -- we are

making sure we support women and

address additional forms of abuse

kicking rhythmically. We have also

ruled out domestic violence

protection orders but the most

important thing, -- address

additional forms of abuse taking

place. This year marks the centenary

of the first British women getting

the vote. We should not forget what

it took to achieve this. Hunger

striking suffragettes were brutally

force-fed with troops, a process so

painful it could cause lifelong

injuries and even make the prison

wardens cry in horror. Those who

marched in favour of women's rights

were pelted with rotting vegetables,

rocks and even dead rats.

Suffragette Emily Davison was

trampled to death by the King's

course when she walked on the

tractor protest. It is only right we

honour the extraordinary efforts and

sacrifices of these remarkable women

as well as the landmark change the

brought about and this Government

will be making sure we provide

necessary funds and support to do

just that -- walked on the track to

protest.

In a 21st-century surely

women deserve total equality call

them back so can the Minister tell

us what steps the Government is

taking to make sure there is not the

pay gap in the civil service in

light of the fact that Carrie Gracie

resigned recently as China editor at

the BBC, citing pay issues they are?

I thank my honourable friend for

raising such an important point and

it is absolutely essential we all

ensure the Equal Pay Act is enforced

and much as I admire the BBC and

enjoy listening and looking at their

programmes, they clearly have a very

serious question to answer here,

which I certainly hope they will

address, and in terms of the gender

pay gap we are committed to ensuring

we do address that as well, and of

course we will have disclosure

arrangements.

I to welcome the additional burden

put only minister in her new role

and thank the former minister. On

the 26th of August 2016 the Prime

Minister began her PR exercise on

the race disparity audit. On the

10th of October 2017 the government

released the data. This week I

launched the investing in ethnicity

maturity matrix, a free resource for

businesses in this regard as chair

of the all parlayed mentally grip.

Will the Minister explain what steps

the government has taken to act upon

the findings from the race to parity

audit? I look forward to working

with the honourable lady in this

house. I have not seen a report yet

but no doubt after this question she

will be kind enough to give me a

copy. The publication of it shows

how committed this government is to

making sure that when we find raised

the party we will address it. Each

department is looking at the

recommendations and will be coming

forward with how we address them.

As

the government rightly pushes

forward legislation for greater use

of electric vehicles guide .uk have

expressed concern from the equality

's perspective about possible safety

obligations for blind and partially

sighted pedestrians for greater use

of these very quiet vehicles, will

be Secretary of State please raise

this concern?

I thank my honourable

friend for raising this, I am aware

it is a concern amongst people who

are disabled particularly blind

people. I would point out autonomous

vehicles are not necessarily going

to be so quiet, it depends, the

autonomous nature means they will

not be driven by an individual but

the noise level will depend on NPR

petrol or diesel or electric but

certainly I have been having

conversations with the Department

for Transport and we'll make sure

they are aware of this serious

concern.

Iman from my constituency

was among the many suffragettes who

secured women the right to vote many

years ago. What steps is the

government taking to address the

lack of women's representation in

Parliament?

I thank the honourable

gentleman for raising this important

issue which we think is critical to

celebrate in this centenary year. I

hope you will consider and speak to

activists in his constituency about

applying for support to raise the

profile of historical suffragettes

in his area. We are committed as a

government to ensure we have high

representation not only in

Parliament but also government and I

am delighted to say there are now

30% of women attending Cabinet. I

would like to congratulate the Home

Secretary on her expanded role, I

know she will do a brilliant job.

She will know that young people,

parents and teachers think it is

vital in a modern Internet world to

see sex and relationships education

updated. Can she confirm the

government will push ahead with

updating guidance which is now so

out of date but also if she will

meet with myself, my right

honourable friend the member for

Basingstoke and also the honourable

member for Rotherham to ensure there

is a cross-party support for the

work which is being undertaken?

Can

I thank the right honourable lady

for the work she did in this role

and I will try my best to keep up

the momentum she provided. One of

the fantastic things she did was

lead on making sure sex and

relationship education will be

provided in all schools. I would be

delighted to work with her to make

sure that is the case and also

across the house to ensure the

outcome we get is one the whole

house can support as I know everyone

believes this is important.

The

requirement for all bass tribe is to

undertake disability equality

training has been standard across

the EU since 2013 and the UK's

five-year-old Dowd ends in the 1st

of March. The Scottish Government

has produced accessible travel

framework so can the Minister tell

us whether standardised training

will be in place in the next six

weeks across England so the UK meet

its obligation and disabled

passengers can access public

transport?

I am delighted to answer

that question, I would certainly

ensure the individual Minister of

disabled persons and also the

Transport Secretary have an address

of that particular point and will

write to the honourable lady.

Growing concern about the use of Non

Disclosure Agreement in connection

with employment, will my right

honourable friend in join me in

condemning the use of Non Disclosure

Agreement is to conceal wrongdoing

of any kind and to encourage illegal

regulators to consider whether they

are in fact ethical?

I thank my

right honourable friend for raising

that I look forward to working with

her in an important committee. She

has raised an important element

because transparency is such an

important part of achieving

equality. I look forward to working

with her on this to establish what

the right way forward is.

I would

like to welcome the Minister to her

new role. Mr Speaker the BBC claimed

that 14.5% of its staff are from the

AMV backgrounds but others including

Lenny Hamrick said when you look at

the staff making the programmes it

falls to just 1.5%. Is the minister

concerned is a major problem with

representation at the BBC and what

discussion has she had with the BBC

about what they are doing about it?

I had not seen those particular

figures but what it draws attention

to is that sometimes the overall

numbers suggesting there is a

quality hides the fact that in

special areas there is nowhere near

the quality so I take seriously what

has been raised and I think the

additional questions for the BBC to

answer in the element she has raised

was appointed to the post and was

told the Post has been abolished.

Will be Secretary of State reverse

the disgraceful decision to abolish

the post of disability rights

commission and restore Lord Schenk

went to his rightful position?

The

disability commissioner role was the

operational matter and the Secretary

of State has no powers to appoint or

reinstate a disability commissioner.

Over the weekend I was sent a

screenshot from a Facebook page

directed at the female CEO of wooden

council it read, and I quote,"

horrible pitch, should hand, wish I

help the rope". This was not deemed

to violate Facebook standards. This

is not an isolated incident. What

further action will the government

take to ensure women in public

office feel safe?

It's such an

important issue and one I think we

are all having to deal with. The

nastiness of comments online is

something we all disparage and we

are actively engaging to make sure

what they can do to take it down. I

would respectfully point out that in

the recent publication about conduct

in public life it was particularly

Conservative MP's you were on the

receiving end and I would urge

opposition members here to work with

their party to ensure a reduction...

It is evidence of the largest

graduate employers in our country

are paying men and women different

rates when they start in the

workplace. Because we know the

gender pay gap only widens as women

progress to the workplace, what can

the government do to tackle this

insidious issue?

We are very serious

about tackling that gender pay gap,

from April this year any employer

with over 250 employees will have to

publish the pay gap and it's through

transparency we will get real

change.

Will the government carried

an economic impact assessment on the

value of investing in a

comprehensive childcare provision

across the country and particularly

impact on women and gender equality?

We already carry out a wide variety

of impact assessments including only

kind of area at the honourable lady

alludes to and if she would like to

write to me with further details of

exactly the aspects she is