Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of appointing a Minister responsible for male-specific issues.

The Equality Act requires the interests of both sexes to be considered when assessing equality impacts. The Government is focussed on delivering genuine equality of opportunity by addressing the real problems people, whatever their sex, face in their everyday lives using evidence and data.

That is why we recently announced the Equality Data Programme, a comprehensive project to improve equality data, enhance our understanding of equality, and get to the heart of the barriers all people face.

As ministerial appointments are made by the Prime Minister, any changes to ministerial titles would be a matter for him to consider. However, all Equalities Ministers have a responsibility to carefully consider issues affecting men and boys as part of their remit even where this is not necessarily indicated in their job title.