Oral Answers to Questions

Lucy Allan Excerpts

Thursday 14th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Carolyn Harris not here.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

9. When the Government plan to publish their response to the closing the gender pay gap consultation, published in July 2015.

[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Nicky Morgan)]

I am delighted that our consultation on closing the gender pay gap has had such a positive reaction, receiving around 700 responses, including more than 200 from employers and business organisations. We will publish the Government’s response to the consultation shortly.

[Lucy Allan]

I thank the Minister for her reply. Excellent work has been done on tackling the gender pay gap, but regional differences remain. In my constituency of Telford, women in full-time work earn 16% less than men in full-time work. What further action can be taken to address that kind of discrepancy?

[Nicky Morgan]

The gender pay gap regulations, when published and put into practice, will help, because they will get employers to start thinking about these issues, and reporting on them. I encourage my hon. Friend to host an event in her own constituency. As a proactive and new Member of Parliament, she can highlight best practice and show the advantages of narrowing the gap. She might also like to think about the breakdown of the businesses within her constituency and work out how we can get more women and girls to participate in sectors such as manufacturing and financial services.