Oral Answers to Questions

Barry Gardiner Excerpts

Thursday 10th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to be helpful to the hon. Gentleman and the House. The question is about airbrushed images of women. The Prime Minister is not a woman. [Interruption.] Order. That is the end of the matter. We will leave it there.

[Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)]

7. What plans she has to support women in balancing their caring responsibilities with work.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Maria Miller)]

One in seven working people has caring responsibilities, and many of those people are women. The Government want people to be able to balance work and family life, and the Government are committed to removing the barriers that can prevent that. We will introduce flexible parental leave, extend help with child care to the most disadvantaged, and extend the right to request flexible working.

[Barry Gardiner]

Does the Minister agree that £10,000 a year would go a long way towards helping women with their caring responsibilities? Would she care to look into the £10,000 per annum disparity between the starting salaries of parliamentary case workers, a disproportionate number of whom are women, and parliamentary assistants? The Independent Parliamentary Salaries Authority recently refused to respond to a question about that from my office, and I should be grateful if the Minister investigated.

[Maria Miller]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that point. It is important for transparency to apply to all pay issues. I think that this is indeed a matter for IPSA to consider, and I suggest that the hon. Gentleman approach it again.