Oral Answers to Questions

David Evennett Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Paul Scully]

I thank my right hon. Friend for pushing her private Member’s Bill and for her concern in this area. I was pleased to meet her. Germany has a far more prescriptive labour market. We support the intention behind her Bill but, having undertaken a full consultation in 2019, we have decided on a different approach, working with the grain of our current regime and extending the existing protection afforded to a new mother on maternity leave into pregnancy and for a six-month return to work period. We will introduce these changes as soon as parliamentary time allows. I am more than happy to continue to work with my right hon. Friend in that regard.

[Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con)]

What steps she is taking to promote social mobility throughout the UK.

[Miriam Cates (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Con)]

What steps she is taking to promote social mobility throughout the UK.

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[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Elizabeth Truss)]

This Government are focused on levelling up. We are transforming our skills system so that everybody has a chance to train and retrain, and we are using important new data analysis from the Equality Hub to ensure that we are addressing where real inequality lies in the UK.

[Sir David Evennett [V]]

I welcome all the work my right hon. Friend is doing to promote social mobility. However, what assessment has she made of the needs of groups such as white working class children whose challenges have not had enough attention to date?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I strongly agree with my right hon. Friend. White British children who receive free school meals perform worse at GCSE than equivalent black and Asian children. We need to ensure that children from all backgrounds are succeeding in modern Britain, and that is going to be a major focus for the Equality Department, working with the Department for Education.