Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the effect on (a) the gender pay gap and (b) women of the suspension of the enforcement of employers' obligations to report data on the gender pay gap in the 2019-20 financial year.

The Government is committed to levelling up and making the UK a country where equality of opportunity exists for everyone. As part of this we want to see more employers offering measures such as flexible working and returnships, which aim to help people return to work after a break due to caring responsibilities. We know that measures like these can improve career prospects for both women and men.

In recognition of the unprecedented uncertainty and pressure facing employers due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting deadlines for the 2019/20 reporting year. The data that employers would have had to submit by April this year, had enforcement not been suspended, would have been calculated from a snapshot date before the COVID-19 outbreak. The snapshot date was 31 March 2019 for public sector employers and 5 April 2019 for the private and voluntary sector.

Despite the uncertainty this year, the UK's gender pay gap has fallen to a record low of 15.5% from 17.4%. We will continue to monitor the impact of the gender pay gap reporting regulations and will review their effectiveness by 2022.