International Women�s Day
Carolyn Harris Excerpts(3 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Carolyn Harris (Neath and Swansea East) (Lab)
In my almost 10 years in this place, I have become somewhat vocal on women�s issues. Some would call me a �ferocious campaigner�, others a �challenging mouthpiece�, but I will take both. My passion for ensuring that women get access to the support and services they need is what drives me�from women struggling through the menopause to women in prison, and women who are victims of domestic violence, human trafficking or modern slavery. It has been my mission to use this platform to be their voice.
Today, I will speak about an industry that is powered by women but is all too often overlooked and undervalued. As a former co-chair�alongside you, Madam Deputy Speaker�of the previous Parliament�s all-party parliamentary group on beauty and wellbeing, which we are reconvening, I have often spoken about the personal care sector. We championed such businesses during the pandemic, when they were belittled by those in power and were among the last businesses to reopen. Since then, we have continued to promote the contribution that they make to our economy, as well as the physical health and mental wellbeing benefits that they bring to society.
More than 80% of those working in the personal care industry are women, and the industry has one of the highest rates of business ownership compared with other sectors�especially for women. In fact, women are four times more likely to own a personal care business than a business in any other sector. �The Future of the High Street�, a report published by the Federation of Small Businesses last year, recognised that women owners of small and medium-sized enterprises were more likely to engage with their communities, but also highlighted the difficulties women faced, such as excessively high rental costs, when women typically earn less than their male counterparts and bear the brunt of the time and cost demands of raising a family.
It is especially encouraging therefore to see that beauty and wellbeing businesses, which are predominately owned and staffed by women, continue to open and thrive�and they really are thriving. In 2023, there was an 11% year- on-year growth in the GDP contribution of the industry to �27.2 billion. The same year saw a 10% increase in the industry�s workforce, with businesses employing 418,000 people. Professional services, such as salons, directly employed 224,000 people, of which 180,000 were women.
Every day, the industry plays a role in our lives�from the products we buy to the services we use. It keeps us clean, enhances our appearance and helps us to protect our physical and mental health. Will the House join me in wishing every woman who works in the personal care sector or owns a business�let us face it, they will probably be working all day Saturday�a very happy International Women�s Day? [Hon. Members: �Hear, hear!�]
Several hon. Members rose�
Oral Answers to Questions
Carolyn Harris Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Jess Phillips
I was waiting for that reference to Gloucester. As the right hon. Lady will know, the NAO report is largely based on the previous Government’s period in office, and although it makes clear recommendations, it would be premature of me to comment. However, the strategy to combat violence against women and girls that will be published by this Government in early summer will undoubtedly be looking to the NAO recommendations.
Carolyn Harris (Neath and Swansea East) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)
The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is a horrific crime, and the Government work closely with law enforcement to tackle the drivers of that offending and target prolific perpetrators. That includes through operational intensification initiatives aimed at tackling modern slavery threats. The Online Safety Act 2023 sets out priority offences, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking offences, and starting from 17 March, in-scope companies must adopt systems and processes to address those offences.
Carolyn Harris
I thank the Minister for her response. In 2023 the then Home Affairs Committee recommended that pimping websites be outlawed, but the previous Government took no action, allowing sex traffickers to continue legally to exploit their victims online. I have since been made aware of further online exploitation, with websites allowing men to rate and review the women for whom they are paying for sex, including admissions of trafficking, under-age sex, and rape. Will the Minister share what action this Government will take to protect victims of online sexual exploitation?
Jess Phillips
Like my hon. Friend, I am horrified that such practices should be allowed to continue. Online platforms have a duty to assess the risk of illegal harms on their services, with a deadline of 16 March 2025, subject to the codes of practice completing the parliamentary process on 17 March. Online platforms will need to take safety measures set out in the codes of practice, and to use other effective measures to protect users from illegal content such as that of which my hon. Friend speaks. If they fail to do so, they will face significant penalties. As she might imagine, I will be keeping a close eye on that.
Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Carolyn Harris Excerpts(8 months, 1 week ago)
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Tonia Antoniazzi
Giving someone money, accommodation, food, a job or other services on the condition that they perform sex acts is sexual exploitation and abuse, yet the global trade in sexual exploitation—perpetrated primarily against women and girls—is bigger than ever before. Sex trafficking is the most profitable form of modern slavery in the world, while violent, misogynistic pornography is consumed on an unparalleled scale, mostly by men. This was not an accident, and it was not inevitable: we could and should have done so much more to protect women and girls. Instead, the past 14 years have been a veritable golden age for pimps and pornographers.
Carolyn Harris (Neath and Swansea East) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that under the United Nations protocol on trafficking, a victim does not need to have travelled in a vehicle in order for a trafficking offence to have been committed, yet under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015, they do? This means that exploiters who are not actually moving a victim in a vehicle from one place to another are not being prosecuted as traffickers. It would make a huge difference if there were parity between the two pieces of legislation, to make sure that trafficking is justly prosecuted.
Tonia Antoniazzi
I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. I know that the Minister is listening and will likely agree with her, as I do.
Multimillion-pound pimping websites have been allowed to operate freely. Men who drive demand for sex trafficking by paying for sex have been left to abuse with impunity, while the most popular pornography websites in the country have been free to peddle videos of rape and sexual abuse.