Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Elliott Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Joan Ryan (Enfield North) (Lab)]

2. What steps the Government are taking to tackle the gender pay gap for women in their 30s and 40s.

[Julie Elliott (Sunderland Central) (Lab)]

8. What steps the Government are taking to tackle the gender pay gap for women in their 30s and 40s.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities (Caroline Dinenage)]

The gender pay gap is now the lowest on record, at 18.1%, but that is still too high and eliminating it altogether is one of the key targets of this Government. That is why we have extended the right to request flexible working and introduced shared parental leave, and it is why, from September, we are rolling out 30 hours of childcare to the working parents of all three and four-year-olds.

[Caroline Dinenage]

The Government take that very seriously, and my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister for Courts and Justice will be coming forward with more information shortly. The Government are committed to ensuring that people from all backgrounds can access justice. Although we are very keen to see much more in the way of mediation, and ACAS has dealt successfully with more than 80,000 cases without having to go to tribunal, on Tuesday we launched a consultation on proposals to widen the support available to people under the help with fees scheme, following the completion of the fees review.

[Julie Elliott]

The gender pay gap in the north-east is 28%, some 10 percentage points higher than the national average. What is the Minister and the Government doing to address those very stark regional variations?

[Caroline Dinenage]

It is vital, now more than ever, that our economy is able to benefit from everybody’s skills. We simply cannot afford to waste the talents of a single person. That is why, from April this year, we are requiring all employers with more than 250 staff to publish those gender pay gap figures. We are great believers in what gets measured gets managed, but what gets published gets managed even better.