Women and the Cost of Living

Debate between Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Alison McGovern

Tuesday 19th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

I want to make a little progress, but I will give way to the hon. Lady in a bit.

The Opposition have thrown a barrage of statistics on female employment at us across the Dispatch Box this afternoon. I should like your permission to throw just one back, Madam Deputy Speaker. As I have said, there are now more women in work than ever before. If I am allowed one more, I shall tell the House that there are nearly 450,000 more women in employment since the Government came to power, and nearly 300,000 fewer economically inactive women. We should be celebrating the fact that there are now so many women in the labour market. Not only are there more women in the workplace, but the pay gap is shrinking, having fallen by nearly 1% last year. It now sits at just 9.6%.

[Alison McGovern]

Will the Minister answer a question that the Prime Minister could not answer last week? She has said that more women are in work now than ever before, but how many of them are on zero-hours contracts?

[Nicky Morgan]

I recall that the Prime Minister is going to write to the hon. Lady with that information, so I shall have to wait to see the letter. On the point about zero-hours contracts, first, the Government have announced that they are launching a review on the issue, and secondly, she ought to be looking at the number of Labour councils that employ people on those contracts first.