Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Heaton-Jones Excerpts

Thursday 22nd February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

We strongly welcome our ties with Israel, as does the hon. Gentleman. As has just been said, the Department has established a joint trade working group, and we continue to liaise closely with the Israeli Government to strengthen trade, investment and other ties between this country and Israel.

[Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon) (Con)]

T4. Next Friday, I will be attending the COMBEbusiness event, which showcases the brilliant small and medium-sized enterprises in north Devon. What is the Department doing to attract international investment to those businesses, which form the bedrock of the south-west’s economy?

[Graham Stuart]

We work in collaboration with the Heart of the South West local enterprise partnership to attract foreign direct investment into Devon. More widely, the Department works with local enterprise partnerships and local authorities across the south-west to promote inward investment opportunities to foreign-owned companies. In 2016-17, DIT recorded 101 inward investment projects in the south-west, creating 3,402 new jobs.

--- Later in debate ---

[Victoria Atkins]

We have sought to establish whether there has been any rigorous national assessment of the prevalence of period poverty and its impact on attendance, but none appears to be available. Last summer, we asked for help from the Association of School and College Leaders forum, and we received a limited response. We are trying to produce an analysis of our absence data to look for evidence of period poverty, and we will publish the findings of that in due course.

[Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon) (Con)]

Further to the Minister’s earlier answer, if the state pension ages of men and women were to be different, would that infringe equality legislation?

[Guy Opperman]

Potentially yes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Heaton-Jones Excerpts

Thursday 12th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Dinenage]

The Government have already introduced transitional arrangements at a cost of £1.1 billion. The cost of reversing the Acts would be in excess of £70 billion and create an inequality between women and men.

[Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon) (Con)]

What is the Minister’s view of any proposal to change legislation that would then favour women as opposed to men in pensions legislation?

[Caroline Dinenage]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I am not a legal professional, but I think that any amendment to the current legislation that creates a new inequality between men and women would unquestionably be highly dubious as a matter of law.