Oral Answers to Questions

Vicky Ford Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Elizabeth Truss)]

Britain has long been a world leader in ensuring that everybody has equal opportunities, from race relations legislation to the Equal Pay Act 1970. As we leave the European Union, we will continue to forge ahead in these areas.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

3. What steps her Department is taking to support women returning to work after a career break.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Victoria Atkins)]

Encouraging women to return to work after a career break is key to our prosperity and to levelling up opportunities for all. The Government funds 25 programmes to support people to return to work after a career break, including careers in health, policing and legal services, and I am delighted to announce today the launch of the return to social work programme to support previously certified social workers to return to this vital profession.

[Vicky Ford]

Mr Speaker, you may think I am young, but as someone who was elected to this place just a few months before my 50th birthday, may I say how fantastic it is to start a new career and be given a second chance? I often meet women in their 50s and 60s who have so much to offer but do not want to go back to the careers they had before. What more can we do to help those women get the skills and opportunities that they deserve?