Oral Answers to Questions

Ged Killen Excerpts

Thursday 23rd November 2017 Commons Chamber

The Minister for Women and Equalities was asked—

[Gerard Killen (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

2. What assessment she has made of the effect of the Autumn Budget 2017 on BAME women.

[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Justine Greening)]

All Departments carefully consider the equalities impact of individual policy decisions on those who share protected characteristics, including gender and race, in line with the Government’s strong commitment to equality issues. From April 2018, the national living wage will increase by 4.4%. Past increases have disproportionately benefited women and those from BAME backgrounds, as well as the disabled.

[Gerard Killen]

Does the Minister accept the figures contained in the “Intersecting Inequalities” report by the Women’s Budget Group and the Runnymede Trust, showing the disproportionate impact of tax and benefit changes on women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and will the Government issue an official response?

[Justine Greening]

I am aware of that work. Part of the challenge is that we need to see much more clearly the broader picture in relation to how Budgets and Government decisions affect BAME women. The analysis that the hon. Gentleman mentions does not take into account the impact of the national living wage, the changes we have made to childcare—introducing 30 hours’ free care—the work that we are doing on reducing the gender pay gap, the introduction of shared parental leave or the introduction of increased flexible working. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has been very clear that

“what is possible falls a long way short of a full gender impact assessment”,

and that is the underlying weakness in the analysis.[Official Report, 18 December 2017, Vol. 633, c. 4MC.]