Oral Answers to Questions

Wera Hobhouse Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Finally, in one short sentence without semi-colons or subordinate clauses, Wera Hobhouse.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

The EU has around 60 trade agreements with third countries. How many trade agreements with those countries does the Secretary of State estimate will have been agreed by December 2020?

[Dr Fox]

We hope all of them, but that means we have to transition them into UK law, which of course the hon. Lady voted against.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Griffiths]

It is an obvious point. Many people say that one of the barriers to their taking shared parental leave is the difference in pay in relation to fathers rather than mothers. The shared parental leave scheme was only introduced in 2015; we are currently evaluating it to see how it is working, and we will report in the spring of 2019. However, the hon. Gentleman’s points are very relevant, and we are keeping abreast of the issue.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

12. If the Government will support legislative proposals to include upskirting as a crime under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Rory Stewart)]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady for the work that she has done on this important issue. Upskirting is a disgusting and horrifying offence. There is a great deal more that we can do to educate the police and prosecuting authorities about their current ability to prosecute offenders under the outraging public decency offence, but we are also looking very actively at the private Member’s Bill tabled by the hon. Lady.

[Wera Hobhouse]

I thank the Minister for agreeing to meet me in May to discuss the issue, but may I ask why he believes that the law is currently adequate? A 10-year-old girl was a victim of this crime not far from my constituency, but nothing could be done under the current law.