Gender Pay Gap Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Gender Pay Gap

Baroness Goudie Excerpts
Tuesday 27th February 2024

(8 months, 1 week ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Barran Portrait Baroness Barran (Con)
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My noble friend is absolutely right. Part of that is about the time it takes for working parents to get back into the workforce. Our commitments—starting this April and building up, so that there will be 30 hours of free childcare for every family with a child nine months old and above—will be crucial for achieving that.

Baroness Goudie Portrait Baroness Goudie (Lab)
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There is mandatory reporting —although there needs to be more—but when are the Government going to get tougher about taking proceedings against companies that do not report in their annual report or ensure that the Equal Pay Act is committed to? No companies are really being taken to court on this issue, so the Government need to step up on this.

Baroness Barran Portrait Baroness Barran (Con)
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I am more than happy to take that back to the department. The mandatory reporting applies to companies with more than 250 employees. I was not aware of the cases that the noble Baroness refers to, but I am happy to pick that up.