Women: Economic Policies

Debate between Baroness Hollis of Heigham and Baroness Verma

Thursday 16th December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend raises an absolutely crucial point, and it is why we have asked the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Abersoch, to look at how government and business can work together to make sure that the boardrooms of public and private bodies are better represented. It is unacceptable that measurements taken in 2009 show that only 12.5 per cent of the board members of the FTSE 100 companies were women. We need to ensure that we are able to do this by having better arrangements for flexible working and through a culture change within those organisations.

[Baroness Hollis of Heigham]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that among families with children, those headed by women face double the cuts in benefits and services of other families? Is she further aware that among pensioners, those who are single, female and elderly—mostly widows—face double the cuts of other pensioners? How can it possibly be “fair”—a word the Minister used extensively in response to my noble friend Lady Massey—that those women, who are the poorest, who earn least and who own least, face double the cuts of everyone else?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is slightly misinformed.

[Baroness Hollis of Heigham]

No!

[Baroness Verma]

We need to take on board that we have introduced the triple guarantee to uprate the basic state pension by the highest of earnings, prices or 2.5 per cent from 2011. This is a difficult time for most people. Unfortunately, it is the result of what we have inherited.