Oral Answers to Questions

Karen Lee Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Laura Pidcock (North West Durham) (Lab)]

5. What steps the Government are taking to ensure companies produce action plans to reduce their gender pay gap.

[Karen Lee (Lincoln) (Lab)]

9. What steps the Government are taking to ensure companies produce action plans to reduce their gender pay gap.

[Paula Sherriff (Dewsbury) (Lab)]

11. What steps the Government are taking to ensure companies produce action plans to reduce their gender pay gap.

--- Later in debate ---

[Amber Rudd]

The gender pay gap, although completely unwelcome, is at the lowest level that we have ever seen. It is actually 9%, and the gender pay gap reporting that we have now mandated will help to drive that down. We are already seeing it very much as part of people’s conversations and I think we will see a material difference.

[Karen Lee]

The response to the Government’s gender pay audit has been slow, and global banks have revealed gender pay gaps as high as 60%. Does the Minister agree that, as Labour has proposed, companies should prove that they are taking timely action to close their pay gaps—apparently it takes a year to turbocharge something—or face a substantial Government fine?

[Amber Rudd]

I share the hon. Lady’s outrage at some of the sizes of the gender pay gaps, but I feel that that just gives even more weight to the fact that it was absolutely right to bring forward last year’s legislation. Revealing pay gaps is exactly how we will start to get proper action.