Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to help tackle pay disparities for ethnic minority people in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire.

We are committed to delivering our manifesto commitment to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers.

This will provide transparency and vital data to help businesses identify and address ethnicity and disability pay gaps within their workforces. We are working on this urgently and will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.

We have also committed to making the right to equal pay effective for disabled people and those from ethnic minority groups. This will help fulfil our aim to ensure that hard work provides opportunities fairly. We recently launched a consultation on our equal pay and pay discrimination proposals to create legislation that works for everyone. The consultation will close on 27 October 2026.

These measures will help tackle pay disparities for ethnic minority groups and disabled people across Great Britain.