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Postal Services

9. Hugh Bayley (City of York) (Lab): What new services have become available at post office counters since May 1997. [189178]

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt): The Government have given the Royal Mail Group greater commercial freedom. We have put in place new management—including for Post Office Ltd., which has been losing business for years—and the Post Office is introducing a number of new services, particularly in insurance, banking and telephones.

Hugh Bayley: Does the Secretary of State agree that, if the Post Office provides new services, it will attract more customers and be able to keep more branches open? How many banks have made arrangements with the Post Office whereby their customers can draw cash at post office counters? How many people have accounts with those banks and can therefore draw cash at post offices?

Ms Hewitt: My hon. Friend is absolutely right: new services, bringing in new customers, will make our post offices successful in future. Already, some 20 million current account holders with Barclays, Lloyds TSB and Alliance and Leicester can bank electronically at post offices, and I am delighted that that became 21 million banking customers yesterday because Clydesdale bank has now reached the same agreement with the Post Office.

Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome) (LD): That is good news, but customers also want their post offices
 
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to be available to them in a convenient place. Has the Secretary of State any comment to make on the continued closure of Crown post offices such as the one in Frome, which has been situated in the marketplace for as long as anyone can remember? It will now be moved and put into the back of a newsagent's somewhere. That is bitterly resented by people in Frome, and there has been no consultation process that is worthy of the name. It was made quite clear right from the beginning that the Post Office would decide and that nobody in Frome would be able to change that decision, whether through petitions in the Somerset Standard or any other way.

Ms Hewitt: This is a matter for the Post Office, to which, as I have said, we have given commercial freedom. I regret the fact that Crown post offices have been losing so much money in recent years and I regret even more the fact that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues would privatise the Post Office, which would undoubtedly make that situation worse.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

The Minister for Women was asked—

New Business Initiatives

20. Mrs. Claire Curtis-Thomas (Crosby) (Lab): If she will make a statement on the initiatives taken by the Government to encourage women (a) to become self-employed and (b) to establish businesses. [189163]

The Deputy Minister for Women and Equality (Jacqui Smith): Since the launch of our strategic framework for women's enterprise last year, we have been working across government and in the regions to improve the environment of support for women wishing to become self-employed or to start businesses.

I am pleased to report that all nine English regions are now committed to developing women's enterprise. Enterprise week in November will include a designated women's enterprise day. Women now account for around one third of people going into self-employment, and an increasing number of women are reporting that they have the skills needed to start a business.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: I thank my right hon. Friend for that response and wish to make her aware that I have a marvellous community cinema in my community, which a group of enterprising women took over seven years ago. It has a turnover of nearly a third of a million pounds a year while making only £500 profit. Those women desperately want to expand this facility and they desperately need support to do so. Is she convinced that the mechanisms that she has now put in place will reach these wonderful women so that they can go on working in voluntary enterprise and make more of a contribution than they have already?

Jacqui Smith: My hon. Friend is obviously talking about a group of very inspirational women, who have taken on the challenge not only of enterprise but of building their community as well. She is absolutely
 
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right. We need to look at all the forms of support that are in place and make sure that they take into consideration the specific needs of women. That is why, for example, we shall shortly launch the case for women's enterprise, which offers practical guidance, case studies and advice for those people who offer business support on the particular needs of women. That is why, in the situation that she has described, the increased support that the Government have put in place for social enterprise may also be appropriate for these women. I am clear that not only is it beneficial for individual women in the circumstances that she has outlined to set up in business, but it is extremely beneficial for their communities as well.

Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire) (Con): How many new businesses were established last year by women?

Jacqui Smith: I do not know the answer to that, but I will certainly provide the hon. Gentleman with the information later. It is encouraging that research shows that many more women now feel they have the skills and ability to set up in business. We now need to translate that into women who actually do that, and I have already outlined some of the practical measures that are being taken at a national level and through the regional development agencies, which are beginning to set women's enterprise as a priority and to put in place the actions that will translate those women who want to start in business into women who are successfully in business.

Ms Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op): In Sheffield, there is an active business club that has many women members who have set up their own businesses and who are doing very well. Will my right hon. Friend look at ways in which Government organisations can make better links with such organisations to use these women as examples and inspirations to other women?

Jacqui Smith: My hon. Friend makes a very important point. Interestingly, a research report by the British Chambers of Commerce found that female businesses tended to be more innovative and more collaborative and networked particularly with universities, as well as being increasingly export oriented.

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the need to find mentors for women who are setting up in work. The business volunteer mentoring initiative, which currently provides free mentoring support to pre and early start-up businesses, has some 43,000 clients, approximately 40 per cent. of whom are female. Although women do not form the majority of those who use the service, a higher proportion of women who set up in business use it than men. My hon. Friend makes an important point on which we need to build.

Unfair Dismissal

21. Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham) (LD): What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of legislation protecting women from unfair dismissal in cases of maternity leave. [189164]
 
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The Minister for Women and Equality (Ms Patricia Hewitt): In 2003–04, employment tribunals received 694 applications from women who believed that they were dismissed because of pregnancy, maternity and childbirth, and 80 relating to being prevented from returning to work after maternity leave. The law makes it quite clear that women cannot be discriminated against or dismissed because of pregnancy or childbirth, and I regret the fact that some employers still seem to be flouting the law.

Dr Cable: Is the Secretary of State satisfied that the law is secure, especially in the light of the precedent created recently in the case of Manor Bakeries and Mrs. Ursell in my constituency? The tribunal ruled that a woman could be sacked in a case of maternity leave, even if she had an exemplary record and references, provided that the decision was made on commercial grounds.

Ms Hewitt: I am not aware of the specific case to which the hon. Gentleman refers, so I invite him to send me further details of it. I believe that the law is clear on dismissal and discrimination. Employment tribunal cases do not set legal precedents and I do not know whether that specific decision is being appealed. We have invited the Equal Opportunities Commission to consider the real problem of employers who still do not accept the need to recognise that women will have children—that is a very good thing too. The commission will report to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Minister for Women and Equality and me shortly, so we shall consider carefully its recommendations for any further action that might be needed.

Julie Morgan (Cardiff, North) (Lab): Does my right hon. Friend agree that pregnancy discrimination is still widespread? Has she heard of the case of the Cardiff manager who was advised by her boss to have an abortion or face the sack? Does she agree that the law should be made clearer and codified, as recommended by the Equal Opportunities Commission?

Ms Hewitt: I am indeed aware of the case to which my hon. Friend refers. It was absolutely disgraceful and hugely distressing to the woman and her family. As my hon. Friend indicated, the Equal Opportunities Commission has already produced an interim report and is recommending even clearer advice to employees and employers on their rights and responsibilities. We will consider that in the context of its final report on its investigation.

Sandra Gidley (Romsey) (LD): In July this year, Godfrey Bloom MEP said:

"No self-respecting businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a woman of childbearing age."

It is relatively easy to see when a woman is discriminated against because she is pregnant, but less easy to see when she is discriminated against because she is of childbearing age. What is the Minister doing to tackle that problem?

Ms Hewitt: The remarks made by that UKIP Member were absolutely absurd. A growing number of women of
 
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all ages are entering the labour market and getting employment because employers need their skills and talents. It is simply not in the interest of any well-run business to discriminate against a woman because she is of childbearing age or has a baby. We must keep pressing that point to the minority of employers who have still not moved into the 21st century.

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