Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help support people with endometriosis in the workplace in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including women with endometriosis, with their employment journey.
We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell. WorkWell is part of Pathways to Work and will be rolled out across all of England backed by up to £259 million investment over three years. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.
In November 2025, Sir Charlie Mayfield reported his Keep Britain Working Review, setting out recommendations to support employers to create healthier and more inclusive workplaces and radically reshape the way Government works with employers to improve outcomes. Following publication we have entered the Vanguard phase and, as part of this, we are partnering with Vanguard employers to test how we can better support good health in work, with a focus on women's health as part of this. Women’s health directly impacts economic participation, with health issues being the leading cause of lost working time for women. We have been inputting into the Women’s Health Strategy renewal to ensure women being in work is a positive health outcome. This includes a commitment to adopting a women’s health across the life course lens as part of the partnership with Vanguard employers in the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
Individuals unable to work due to endometriosis may be eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay from their employer which, from April becomes payable from the first full day of sickness absence.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what comparative assessment she has made of trends in the level of online harm experienced by (a) girls and (b) boys.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Making the online environment a safer place for children is a priority for this government.
The Online Safety Act requires services to protect children from harmful and age-inappropriate content as well as proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content, much of which disproportionately affects women and girls, including intimate image abuse.
Ofcom has published guidance outlining steps services can take to make their platforms safer for women and girls online.
We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the Act, the government announced a consultation and national conversation to understand how best we can build on these provisions to ensure children have positive, enriched digital lives.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to classify misogyny as a hate crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of hate crime receive equal protection under the law.
That is why we tabled an amendment at Lords Report Stage to the Crime and Policing Bill, extending the aggravated offences in sections 28 to 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This will level up protections by adding transgender identity, sexual orientation, disability and sex to the existing framework, ensuring that hostility based on any of these characteristics is treated with the same seriousness as racially or religiously aggravated offending.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the teacher workforce strategy includes consideration of aligning maternity (a) pay and (b) leave arrangements for classroom teachers more closely with the equivalent arrangements available to civil servants, in the context of efforts to improve teacher retention.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to tackling recruitment and retention challenges and supporting teachers to stay in the profession and thrive.
We recognise women aged 30-39 are the largest group of leavers from the teacher workforce. To address this, we are taking action to promote and expand flexible working opportunities in schools, without impacting pupils’ education hours. This includes offering practical support on combining flexible working and career progression. We also provide support for those returning having taken an extended break following parental leave.
The Burgundy Book outlines how maternity provision applies in schools. This is a national agreement negotiated with employers by the six teachers’ organisations.
Further information can be found on the Local Government Association website and views can be fed in via the organisations involved in that negotiation.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has assessed the potential impact of differences in maternity (a) pay and (b) leave arrangements between classroom teachers and Department for Education civil servants on teacher retention, with particular reference to teachers aged 30 to 39.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to tackling recruitment and retention challenges and supporting teachers to stay in the profession and thrive.
We recognise women aged 30-39 are the largest group of leavers from the teacher workforce. To address this, we are taking action to promote and expand flexible working opportunities in schools, without impacting pupils’ education hours. This includes offering practical support on combining flexible working and career progression. We also provide support for those returning having taken an extended break following parental leave.
The Burgundy Book outlines how maternity provision applies in schools. This is a national agreement negotiated with employers by the six teachers’ organisations.
Further information can be found on the Local Government Association website and views can be fed in via the organisations involved in that negotiation.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what analysis her Department has undertaken of the role of (a) maternity pay and (b) family-friendly employment conditions in levels of retention of experienced teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to tackling recruitment and retention challenges and supporting teachers to stay in the profession and thrive.
We recognise women aged 30-39 are the largest group of leavers from the teacher workforce. To address this, we are taking action to promote and expand flexible working opportunities in schools, without impacting pupils’ education hours. This includes offering practical support on combining flexible working and career progression. We also provide support for those returning having taken an extended break following parental leave.
The Burgundy Book outlines how maternity provision applies in schools. This is a national agreement negotiated with employers by the six teachers’ organisations.
Further information can be found on the Local Government Association website and views can be fed in via the organisations involved in that negotiation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made to help support the end to violence against women and girls, including what steps she took during the 6 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in 2025.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 18th December 2025, this government published the ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse; a cross-cutting strategy’, setting out our whole-system approach to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
We have already begun implementing measures, such as rolling out Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, embedding domestic abuse specialists in police control rooms through Raneem’s Law, establishing a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection with £13.1 million of funding, and appointing Richard Wright KC to lead the Stalking Legislation Review ensuring the criminal law on stalking is fit for purpose. This is alongside the work done by Ministers during the Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, from 25th November to 10th December 2025, to meet with and support a range of stakeholders and events.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report Designing Out Economic Abuse in the UK Banking Industry: A Call To Action, published by Northumbria University in November 2025.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the devasting impacts economic abuse can have on people’s financial independence. Tackling economic abuse is a priority for the Government as part of its mission to halve Violence Against Women and Girls within a decade.
Reflecting this, economic abuse was considered as a theme across the Government’s recently published Financial Inclusion Strategy, in recognition of the challenges victim-survivors can face in accessing financial products and services. The strategy sets out an ambitious programme of measures for Government and the financial services sector to improve financial inclusion. This includes supporting victim-survivors to regain financial independence through interventions to increase access to banking services and improving the impact of economic abuse on victim-survivors’ credit files.
The Government is committed to continuing to work closely with industry, civil society, and across government to deliver the strategy successfully and ensure interventions are informed by a range of expertise and perspectives. This includes engaging regularly with the banking sector on their continued response to economic abuse.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to ensure that employers provide supportive, flexible environments, including temperature control, modified duties, and open dialogue to prevent talent loss due to employees' menopausal and peri-menopausal symptoms.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As part of Employment Rights Act 2025, we took the first step towards requiring large employers from the private and voluntary sectors in England, Wales and Scotland and the public sector in England to publish an action plan detailing what they are doing to support employees through the menopause. In order to support employers to produce their plans, we will provide guidance on the actions we recommend they take, drawn from existing evidence. This is likely to include elements around workplace flexibility and training for line managers and will be publicly available for all employers.
In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions has already published guidance for small employers on measures to consider relating to uniform and temperature, flexible working and recording menopause-related leave and absence. This is available on the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service website.
Furthermore, broader measures introduced as part of the Employment Rights Act 2025 will encourage more supportive workplaces. With elements around access to flexible working and changes to Statutory Sick Pay helping employees managing menopause symptoms.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that eligible women take up breast cancer screening in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Through our National Health Service screening programmes, we can reduce mortality and morbidity from cancer in the population who appear healthy and have no symptoms, by detecting conditions at an earlier, more treatable stage. Each year, over 15 million people are invited for screening, with over 10 million taking up the invitation.
In Birmingham and Solihull, between 2022/23 and 2023/24 there has been an improvement of 4.93% in breast cancer screening uptake in 53 to 70 year old people.
In Sutton Coldfield, the breast screening is offered to all eligible cohorts in line with service specifications of the NHS Breast Screening Programme. In this constituency, uptake and coverage are stable and constituents can access screening at both static and mobile facilities. There is a dedicated focus on reducing health inequalities, supporting access, and informing eligible patients to actively take up their screening appointment and offer.
The breast screening service in Sutton Coldfield is currently undertaking a targeted text messaging initiative targeting eligible patients that have not attended their screening invitation. This includes the offer to rebook their screening appointment and a link to bilingual breast screening videos to support education and awareness. A follow-up text message survey is also being used to explore barriers to attendance and motivating factors, with insights informing ongoing service development.
Other initiatives to increase uptake in the area include:
a dedicated general practice toolkit to support and inform health promotion messaging;
a breast screening resource pack for care homes to support staff in promoting screening awareness and facilitating uptake amongst eligible residents; and
a cancer bus initiative promoting a range of services including breast cancer screening.