Oral Answers to Questions

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support women experiencing menopause at work.

[The Minister for Women (Maria Caulfield)]

In March last year we appointed Helen Tomlinson as the Government’s first ever menopause employment champion. She has been working up and down the country, visiting businesses large and small and giving them advice on policies to support menopausal women in the workplace. She recently published her 12-month review, “Shattering the Silence about Menopause”.

[Andrew Gwynne]

I am grateful for that reply. Labour is the party of women’s equality. The previous Labour Government did more to advance equality than any other, and the next one will match that record. We are committed to supporting women experiencing menopause to thrive at work by requiring large employers to adopt menopause action plans. Will the Minister do the same?

[Maria Caulfield]

As usual, this Government have already done all of that work. In England we have the Wellbeing of Women pledge, which the NHS, the civil service and this Parliament have signed. We will take no lectures from Labour on women’s health. While we have had a women’s health strategy for two years, Labour-run Wales has no health plan for women.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Anneliese Dodds (Oxford East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Research shows that one in 10 women with menopausal symptoms have left work due to a lack of support. In some cases, this will have been due to discrimination. Women experiencing menopause know that this is because of their age and sex, but the law does not protect them on that combined basis. Why not?

[Maria Caulfield]

The Equality Act 2010 already protects women on the basis of sex, age and disability. It is this Government who are changing the experience of menopause by rolling out women’s health hubs in every integrated care board across England, so that women can access menopause support. We also have our hormone replacement therapy prepayment certificate, which is available for just under £20 a year for women to get all their HRT prescriptions. Over half a million women in England have bought one of those certificates.

[Anneliese Dodds]

The Minister referred to Labour’s Equality Act, which of course includes protections against dual discrimination, but the Conservatives have refused to enact those protections. Labour would put that right. We would also require large businesses to produce menopause action plans, which the Government have refused to do, and we would also publish guidance for smaller businesses. We would set a new investment target for women-led start-ups, and we would transform the rights of women at work with a new deal for working people. The Minister for Women and Equalities has suggested, of course, that menopause at work is a left-wing issue. Does this Minister agree?

[Maria Caulfield]

The shadow Minister fails to mention the Help to Grow portal, which has a menopause resource hub that enables employers to use that information to better support women in the workplace, whether with flexible working—under laws that this Conservative Government have introduced—or through simple measures such as recognising that even the uniform a woman wears in the workplace can make a difference. This Conservative Government have raised the bar on menopause health and support in the workplace and in healthcare, while Labour for many years could not even define what a woman actually is.

[Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)]

3. What steps the Government are taking to help ensure community cohesion.

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[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Lab)]

7. What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to help ensure that health and social care providers collect sex-based data.

[The Minister for Women (Maria Caulfield)]

NHS England plans to make further changes to reporting on sex and gender in national datasets once the unified information standard for protected characteristics has been approved and published. This will unify reporting on eight of the nine protected characteristics, including gender reassignment and sex.

[Rosie Duffield]

I know that the Secretary of State agrees that vulnerable women with learning disabilities and all women should be able to access same-sex care, particularly with regard to intimate physical care. That is especially important in the light of the shocking report by the Women’s Rights Network and Jo Phoenix on rape and sexual assault in hospitals and care settings. That is why the proper collection of data based on sex is vital. Does the Minister agree?

[Maria Caulfield]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. We are currently consulting on the NHS constitution, which will give women not just the right to same-sex accommodation in hospitals, but the right to ask for someone of the same sex to conduct intimate examinations. There are safeguards, and we are looking at some of the incidents in trusts in order to better protect patients and staff. She is absolutely right to raise the issue of data collection and ensuring that that is happening.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

8. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to encourage more people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to start up a business.

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[Sarah Green (Chesham and Amersham) (LD)]

T4. Both Baroness Cumberlege in the “First Do No Harm” report and the patient safety commissioner in the Hughes report recommend a redress scheme for women harmed by surgical mesh. What conversations is the Minister having with Government colleagues to make the redress scheme a reality for those women, who are still suffering?

[The Minister for Women (Maria Caulfield)]

It is this Conservative Government who have commissioned the patient safety commissioner to do a report on what redress would look like. It is important that we take those recommendations in detail. We are looking at that and we aim to respond to the commissioner in the coming weeks.

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

Some sporting bodies have interpreted the Equality Act 2010 in such a way that they believe they cannot lawfully ban males who identify as girls or women from competing in women’s sport. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that interpretation is not correct and that it is lawful to exclude all males from female sport to achieve safety and fairness for women and girls?