House of Commons - Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Select Committee on Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Second Report

Annex: Comparison of Recommendations

Trade and Industry Committee's Report: Jobs for the girls: The effect of occupational segregation on the gender pay gap	Women and Work Commission's Report: Shaping a Fairer Future	Towards a Fairer Future: Government's one year-on report on implementing the proposals of the Women and Work Commission
The experience of some members of the Committee supports the EOC's contention that, though it is by no means a universal attitude, a significant number of schools seem to consider finding work experience placements an onerous addition to their core teaching work, and they try to devolve as much of the responsibility to individual pupils as possible. For both students and employers, this is a wasted opportunity. (Para 15)	N/A	DfES has agreed with the EOC to trial a number of measures in 2007 and evaluate their impact on occupational segregation. One of these measures involves looking at how existing guidance on tackling gender-stereotypical attitudes can be improved in the context of moves towards extended work experience as part of the development of vocational education at 14-19. Revised guidance on work experience will be published in 2007. The UK Resource- Centre (UKRC) on Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) is funded by the Government to work with partners to better promote careers in the sector to girls and women, to retain female workers within the sector, and help qualified women return to the sector after an interruption. The UKRC has introduced the Wider Horizons programme, currently being piloted in South and West Yorkshire, to encourage girls who had picked clerical or administration jobs for their work experience placements to explore alternative careers by placing them in SET and Built Environment companies. Schools in the region have worked with employers who already employ many women in non-traditional roles. The project team are now looking to develop employer-led models. (Para 2.8)
We recognise that providing well structured and informative work placements is a burden on businesses, and that employers are understandably anxious about health and safety issues and other statutory responsibilities towards the young people involved. However, especially in sectors suffering from skills shortages, there is a strong argument from economic self-interest for employers to take seriously the opportunity afforded by work placements to 'sell' their industry and their company. The burden is especially acute for small businesses, and here we see a role for Sector Skills Councils and local trade associations to provide advice and support. It might, for example, be possible to co-ordinate a programme of brief 'taster' sessions in several companies to share the responsibility more widely. (Para16)	[The relevant Government Departments should produce a new strategy, which should include] _ employer visits to schools and "taster" days for primary school pupils; _ work experience placements for pupils pre-14 in an occupation not traditionally taken up by their gender; _ careers education co-ordinators in schools to organise the provision of group visits, "taster days" and work experience. (Part of Recommendation 1)	N/A
While the issue of education of 14-19 year olds is a matter for our colleagues on the Education and Skills Committee, not us, we feel it a shame that, so far, although there has been a marked improvement in the educational achievements of girls, which should have led to a greater range of career options for these girls when they leave school, the pattern of occupational choices has not changed as much as one might have expected. We are confident that the DTI and the Learning and Skills Council are giving due attention to this issue, but we have doubts about whether the message has really penetrated down to the level of individual schools, and the local businesses that might benefit from having a wider range of candidates for jobs. We are also uncertain of the extent to which the Department for Education and Skills has ensured that the challenging of gender stereotypes is fully incorporated into the curriculum and into the general approach of schools towards fitting their pupils for adult life. (Para 18)	The Department for Education and Skills and relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments should ensure that teacher training emphasises the need to challenge gender stereotypes, both in delivery of careers education and in subject teaching, and that it allows for a work placement for all trainee teachers, including observing workers in non-traditional occupations. (Recommendation 5) Schools should consider different methods of teaching to different genders, including single-sex classes or after-school classes, for subjects where girls or boys are underrepresented or under-achieving. A good example of this is Computer Clubs for Girls. (Recommendation 8)	N/A
Although there have been improvements in the provision of careers advice and work placements, and in the links between business and schools, the quality still varies too much from place to place. The critical links in the process of spreading best practice would appear to be the local Learning and Skills Councils, local education authorities, Sector Skills Councils, Regional Development Agencies, and local trade associations such as Chambers of Commerce. Until all these bodies are properly engaged in the process, it will be extremely difficult to challenge the general culture of sexual stereotyping of roles, and young people will not be given the information and encouragement necessary to step outside the stereotypes. Half the battle to improve women's pay and opportunities and to tackle skills shortages will already have been lost. (Para 19)	The Department for Education and Skills and relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments should ensure that all young people have access to careers information, advice and guidance. National standards should confirm that it: _ challenges gender stereotypes; _ gives young people a real understanding of the pay, rewards and challenges of occupations, particularly those not traditionally taken up by their gender. (Recommendation 6) Careers literature and on-line careers resources that challenge gender stereotypes should be targeted at parents and carers, who should also be invited to attend the employer visits to schools and "taster days". (Recommendation 9)	DfES is working to develop new Quality Standards for Young People's Information, Advice and Guidance. Included in the standards will be the need for providers to challenge gender-stereotyping and traditional ideas of learning and work. DfES has been working closely with key stakeholders, including the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) during the development of the standards, which will be published in May 2007. The standards will be implemented in April 2008 in line with new delivery arrangements for information, advice and guidance. All careers information produced by DfES and its partners is impartial, up to date and challenges gender-stereotypes, for example by including photographs and case studies of young people in non-traditional roles. The Guide for Parents and Carers supports the "Choices" publications for young people in years 9-11. The guide encourages parents to help their children to keep an open mind and not be influenced by stereotypical images. 'Challenging Gender Barriers' was published in October 2006 on behalf of DfES by the National Association of Connexions Partnerships, working closely with the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). The report responds to the EOC's General Formal Investigation into Occupational Segregation (EOC, 2004) and the Women and Work Commission report. It provides a number of case studies of effective practice in challenging gender-stereotyping through delivery of careers information advice and guidance. Through the National Association of Connexions Partnerships, DfES is working with selected Connexions Partnerships to develop lesson plans and a practitioner's toolkit. (Para 2.6)
N/A	The Department for Education and Skills and relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments publish strategic documents, in reaction to the analysis in this report, which describe a systemic change in the way education is delivered in order to reduce stereotypical choices, improve take-up of vocational skills training, and improve employment outcomes for young women. The document should set out the goals for a national World of Work Programme, meshing with existing initiatives, but providing a new framework for vocational skills and work experience, through primary, secondary and tertiary education. It should include: a curriculum for vocational skills that provides a joined-up framework for practical learning; clarification of what students can expect in terms of entitlements to study for vocational qualifications, what the different qualifications and standards mean and how they relate to each other; (Part of Recommendation 1)	Improving work-related educational provision: new diplomas DfES will promote diversity in all its communications on Diplomas. Sector Skills Councils will target those groups that are currently under-represented in their sector. DfES also plans to establish an online forum, where education providers and advisers will be able to share best practice for promoting diversity. This will be launched in Autumn 2007. (Para 2.11)
N/A	The Department for Education and Skills and relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments should work with teacher training providers to improve teachers' practical skills in delivering vocational training. (Recommendation 2)	N/A
N/A	The Department for Education and Skills and relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments should draw up national guidance for teachers and early years childcare workers on how to ensure that the horizons of children in the three to five age group are not limited by stereotypes of what girls and boys can do. (Recommendation 4)	The new Early Years Foundation Stage (which was published in March 2007 and will become statutory in 2008) is built on the core requirement that all practitioners must adopt inclusive practice and promote diversity. It will help to ensure that the horizons of children, from the time they are born until they are five, are not limited by stereotypes of what boys and girls can do. The 10 Year Childcare Strategy (HM Treasury, 2004) aims to increase the diversity of the childcare workforce, particularly by promoting the sector to men. The national childcare recruitment campaign is inclusive and seeks to provide a new national image for the sector - of a skilled, intelligent and competitive workforce where more men, people from ethnic minorities, older people and people with disabilities have the opportunity to make a real difference in the future attainment of children and the lives of their families. The campaign aims to increase the level of diversity within the workforce so that it is more representative of the community which it serves. (Para 2.4)
N/A	The Department for Education and Skills, and the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, should consider how applications by single-sex schools for specialist status could be used to challenge gender stereotypes. The first or second specialism could be in a subject not usually associated with the students' gender, for example, languages for boys' schools and maths and computing for girls' schools. Relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments should consider this recommendation in the light of their policies. (Recommendation 7)	N/A
While the Modern Apprenticeships programme is a key to alleviating skills shortages in the UK and to providing young people with the means to access higher value and higher paid work, it appears that the structure of the apprenticeships may have been designed too much with the traditional school-leaver recruit in mind. The development of schemes for older people, particularly those with caring responsibilities, is vital to attracting more women into male-dominated sectors; and we therefore welcome the pilots being run for older people. However, we are disappointed that the Modern Apprenticeships programme seems to date to be reinforcing gender segregation among young people. (Para 24)	[The relevant Government Departments should produce a new strategy, which should include] _ the promotion of Young Apprenticeships to 14-16 year olds in occupations not traditionally taken up by their gender (Part of Recommendation 1) The Sector Skills Councils should work with employers on providing and promoting Apprenticeships for women in industries where there are skills shortages. The development of a comprehensive plan to tackle the segregation of jobs, into those mostly done by one gender or the other, should be part of every Sector Skills Agreement. (Recommendation 3)	The Department for Education and Skills: is developing a new national strategy on equality and diversity to improve participation and success levels of all under-represented groups in Apprenticeships and have established an action group including employers, the Learning and Skills Council, the TUC and national equality body representatives to take work forward. is working with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and partners, including sector and equality bodies, to promote and improve equal opportunities in Apprenticeships. The Equal Opportunities Commission's investigation into occupational segregation made recommendations to which the Department has responded by: improving information in this area (including publishing 'Apprenticeship Pay: A Survey of Earnings by Sector', October 2005), broadening choice; and, exploring more flexible Apprenticeship learning opportunities. has asked the Institute for Employment Studies to take forward disseminating best practice on Young Apprenticeships through a programme of work in Spring 2007 to support schools in organising taster days, where students can see what an Apprenticeship would be like before choosing whether to take one up; is working with the Equal Opportunities Commission and partners to explore funding mechanisms and devise a possible project-based Apprenticeship model, drawing on the Greater London Authority and Construction Industry Training Board regeneration project models; is working with partners to keep Apprentice pay issues under review, including through the Apprenticeships Ministerial Steering Group. (Para 3.10)
N/A	A £20 million package to pilot measures designed to enable women to change direction, and progress in their jobs and careers, through raising their skill levels. It should be led by the Department for Education and Skills and relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments and the Department for Work and Pensions. Women who are not in work who already have a Level 2 qualification should be entitled to free skills coaching, under the New Deal for Skills, and additional help to gain employment and training in an area of skills shortage. Train to Gain, through the network of skills brokers, should be particularly focused on employers and sectors employing the greatest numbers of low-skilled women, particularly those from ethnic minorities. Women should have access to a high quality careers information, advice and guidance service which tackles gender stereotypes under the New Deal for Skills and Train to Gain, which provides support in work and may include additional training. Free Level 3 training (free for the individual, match-funded by the employer) under Train to Gain should be piloted with employers from the five "c" sectors, particularly those employing part-time workers. Further pilots for Adult Apprenticeships or Train to Gain in areas of skills shortage should be introduced and focused on women returners. (Recommendation 22)	In January 2006 the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) began trialling an extended learndirect telephone service testing in-depth personal guidance on learning, work and careers, aimed at adults returning from career breaks, seeking to progress in their careers and/or wanting to develop skills for jobs requiring a Level 3 qualification. An initial evaluation of this trial showed positive results in line with the recommendations in the Leitch Review of Skills and the trial is therefore now being extended to March 2008. 55 per cent of callers to this service are women. Both the Leitch Review of Skills and an earlier cross-government Information, Advice and Guidance review identified wider potential for a universal, comprehensive system offering a menu of services on learning, work and careers through a variety of media. Work is now in hand to bring together currently separate sources of advice into a labour market-focused, accessible service including a free Skills Health Check. More information on implementation is expected later this year. (Para 3.5) Skills coaching The Skills Coaching trials are now being delivered in 19 Jobcentre Plus (JCP) districts. In Year one of the trials, 2005-6, 43 per cent of customers accessing Skills Coaching were women, compared to 39 per cent of those receiving benefits. Early data shows that in 2006-7, 44 per cent of customers accessing skills coaching were women, compared to 38 per cent of those receiving benefits. These trials will ensure Skills Coaching covers all parts of the five cities where challenges for low skilled women are particularly acute: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford/Leeds and Leicester. All 19 Skills Coaching pilots will focus on helping low-skilled women. DfES is currently looking at possible options to ensure effective links with both the Sector Pathways Initiative and the Train to Gain Level 3 pilot in London. A protocol exists between the Learning and Skills Council and Jobcentre Plus to support joint working and there is already evidence of co-operation between Jobcentre Plus and the Train to Gain skills brokers. So both the employer and the new employee can access the skills the employee needs to progress. (Para 3.6) Support for higher-level skills The £20 million Level 3 Pilot began in London in November 2006, integrated with Train to Gain, the new national employer training programme. The London pilot is specifically targeted at women returners and those with low skills in occupational areas where women are currently under-represented at level 3. This has resulted in contracts with 21 providers from across the region to deliver 7,430 Level 3 qualifications over the next two years, with funding provision for a further 4,000 places. London's greatest skills needs, which include engineering, construction and transport and logistics, are all priority areas where women are currently under-represented. Funding for the pilot will therefore focus on supporting learners in these sectors and equip women to take up opportunities in relation to delivery of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The Employers' Guide to Training Providers (EGTP) for the London region has been expanded to include all Level 3 pilot providers. This website (www.employersguidetotrainingproviders.co.uk) will allow brokers to search by various categories to find the best-suited provider for the employer. The pilot will be evaluated within the ongoing Train to Gain evaluation. Any general lessons of good practice will be incorporated within the Train to Gain service as they are discovered. Based on the final recommendations, decisions will be made on extending the pilot to other regions subject to the availability of funding. (Para 3.3) Better career development opportunities So far, eight Sector Skills Councils are taking forward the Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative. They are working with employers to develop a range of projects that will provide women with the skills and confidence and mentoring support they need to succeed in male-dominated occupations, including training for a new career and personal development programmes to help women progress to supervisory, managerial or higher-level technical roles or self-employment. An evaluation report will be published in September 2008. The eight projects cover the following sectors: - Apparel, footwear and textiles; - Construction; - Environmental and land-based industries; - Food and drink manufacturing and processing; - Logistics; - Retail motor industry; - Science and engineering; and - Cleaning services and facilities management. (Para 3.4)
The example of Foundation Degrees shows that it is possible to construct training to make it accessible to the greatest range of people. We recognise the difficulty in extending this flexibility into employer-based schemes: the sole purpose of FE institutions is to provide training, while employers have to juggle the sometimes conflicting demands of efficiency and immediate productivity against providing for future skills needs via training. However, the development of flexibility should be encouraged, not hindered, by the overall requirements for Modern Apprenticeship schemes. We recommend that the Government review the structure of such apprenticeships to ensure that the maximum possible flexibility is built into them. We commend the suggestion that the Government should reconsider whether the programme of Young Apprenticeships, which is aimed at 14-16 year olds, should be used actively to encourage young people to think about a wider range of job options by offering training in three sectors rather than just one. (Para 25)	The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, HM's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales, HM Inspectorate of Education in Scotland and the Northern Ireland Education and Training Inspectorate should report on: whether training providers offer their courses flexibly to meet the needs of those with caring responsibilities, and those combining study with part-time or full-time jobs; and the extent to which childcare support is provided local to, or at, training sites. (Recommendation 25)	Ofsted inspectors of Further Education Colleges will analyse in particular whether training providers offer their courses flexibly to meet the needs of those with caring responsibilities, and those combining study with part-time or full-time jobs. They will also look at the extent to which childcare support is provided local to, or at, training sites, in relation to institutions inspected in February and March 2007. In 2007-8, new best practice guidance addressing the most important issues thrown up by the analytical work will be produced to enable all institutions to learn from the practice of the best in providing access to learners with other continuing responsibilities or commitments. (Para 3.7)
We were told there was a variation in the degree to which local Learning and Skills Councils were using Equality and Diversity Impact Measures to tackle gender segregation. We think it would encourage the wider adoption of best practice if the Learning and Skills Council itself set a national indicator to show how seriously it took this issue. (Para 26)
We note the complexity of the requirements for qualifying for and accessing the training schemes under the New Deal umbrella. This in itself may be a deterrent to the unemployed accessing the training that would benefit both them and the UK economy. (Para 31)	The Department for Work and Pensions should develop its New Deals aimed at women returners, in particular lone parents, in the light of evidence and ongoing pilots. DWP and devolved services should explore the possibility of offering services to women not currently working where neither they nor their partners are receiving benefits. All work-related activities, work placements and training in New Deal women returner programmes should be offered on a part-time basis. Women returners should have access to confidence-building measures, including peer group support, perhaps delivered through local community groups. Women who have never worked or not worked for a significant period should be offered a voluntary session with a Personal Adviser at Jobcentre Plus to talk through and access information on issues they may encounter on their return to work, for example childcare, commuting, dress. All lone parents should be offered extended assistance from a Personal Adviser to support retention and progression. (Recommendation 14) The Department for Work and Pensions should set Jobcentre Plus additional targets to retain and promote women into sustainable jobs, taking account of the specific needs of lone parents, black and minority ethnic women, and disabled women. (Recommendation 15)	Improving the New Deal From April 2007, DWP will phase in the introduction of six-monthly work-focused interviews (WFIs) for all lone parents with a youngest child aged 0-13 years. The first phase in April 2007 will be for lone parents with a youngest child aged 5-13. The second phase in April 2008 will be for those with a youngest child aged 0-4 (Lone parents with a youngest child aged between 14-16 already have quarterly WFIs) From April 2007, DWP will introduce quarterly WFIs for lone parents who have a youngest child aged 11-13 in the New Deal Plus for Lone Parent Pilot areas. These pilots currently operate in the following Jobcentre Plus Districts: - Bradford; - Dudley and Sandwell; - Leicestershire; - North London; - South East London; - South East Wales; and - Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders. (Para 4.19) Tackling child poverty DWP is undertaking a wide-ranging review of the welfare to work strategy, to consider how best to tackle economic inactivity and promote social mobility over the coming decade. David Freud (Chief Executive of the Portland Trust) was asked to review progress on the Welfare to Work programme and make policy recommendations on how the Government can build on its success in using policies such as the New Deal to continue to reduce inactivity and in-work poverty, and meet the Government's 80 per cent employment aspiration. The Freud review was published on 5 March 2007 (Freud, 2007) and the Government is giving careful consideration to its recommendations in light of the very important fact that work offers lone parents and their children a sustainable route out of poverty and, as research evidence has shown, can help improve child outcomes. DWP, published a refreshed Child Poverty Strategy in March 2007 (DWP 2007) which details changes to their programmes to maximise progress towards their challenging targets. This includes a response to the recommendations of the Harker report. (Para 4.24) Employment retention and advancement The DWP Project on Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) is the first of its kind in the UK. The project, being piloted in six Jobcentre Plus districts, is testing the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve retention and advancement for those on the margins of the labour market. ERA is designed to help break the 'low pay, no pay cycle' common among low-wage workers. There is a clear focus within ERA on the labour market position of women. Two of the three groups of customers eligible for the programme are lone parents who volunteer for New Deal for Lone Parents and lone parents on Working Tax Credit who work between 16 and 29 hours per week. The initial results, covering individuals' first 12 months in ERA, are encouraging. ERA has increased the receipt of services and training for working customers, increased participants' average earnings and produced some reductions in benefits they are receiving. A report looking at outcomes two years after entry to the ERA programme will be available in early 2008. (Paras 4.20-4.22)
It is stating the obvious to say that the culture of industries will not be changed quickly. Both employers and trade unions could do more to tackle the overtly sexist elements of workplace culture, simply by making it clear that certain behaviour is unacceptable. We welcome the indications that some companies are now indicating that they are unwilling to do business with firms that have tolerated, let alone tacitly encouraged, harassment and discrimination. (Para 36)	Employers should ensure that their managers, at all levels, are regularly and continually trained on diversity and flexibility issues. (Recommendation 17) Trade unions should train their representatives to promote the benefits of flexible working options and win hearts and minds among management and employees for best practice policies and procedures and monitor the right to request flexible working. (Recommendation 18)
The problem of the 'downgrading' of jobs which have increasingly become the preserve of women is not a new one: it happened to the clerical/secretarial sector almost 100 years ago. Dealing with this problem would require an overturning of the traditional view of caring and service (and largely female) jobs as inherently inferior—less skilled, less valuable, lower paid—to 'wealth-creating' financial, technical and manufacturing (and largely male) jobs. This is beyond the scope of our Report, but we note, in passing, the example set by the Government in its re-evaluation of the work done by different occupational groups within the National Health Service in the context of its Agenda for Change programme. We would welcome moves by any other employer to undertake a similarly fundamental review of the value—and rewards—attached to the range of jobs within their business. (Para 37)	The Department for Education and Skills should ensure that its strategy for the early years workforce considers the levels of pay needed to build a better-qualified workforce, which reflects the importance of higher skill levels to the development and welfare of children, while at the same time keeping childcare affordable for working families. (Recommendation 27) The Government should develop a strategy for the social care sector incorporating issues such as pay, quality of care, qualifications of the workforce, and future demand. (Recommendation 28)	Career development for those working in social care In October 2006 DoH published the Options for Excellence final report, Building the Social Care Workforce of the Future. This report set out a number of future options which will have an impact on this agenda including: Recruitment and Retention: a range of measures to improve the image and public perception of social care will be considered to send out a clear message that the sector is characterised by diversity; New Ways of Working: the report considers a number of new working methods, including the development of new roles, increasing the use of new technology and development for personal assistants; and Leadership and Management - the report considers ways to improve leadership and management, and looks at key processes including human resource (HR) management, workforce planning and workload management systems. DoH have already begun to work up an implementation plan for Options for Excellence, which will be developed alongside action on implementing the White Paper Our health, our care, our say (DoH, 2006). (Para 3.15) Raising skills levels in the early years workforce A Transformation Fund, worth £250 million from 2006 to 2008, has been introduced by DfES and HM Treasury to raise the quality of early years provision without the additional costs of doing so being passed on to parents and carers in the form of increased fees. Almost all the Fund is being put towards the professional development of the early years workforce and in particular towards raising workforce qualification levels in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) early years sector. The central focus of the Fund is to support recruitment and retention of more graduate level practitioners into PVI full daycare settings, whose involvement has been shown to have the most beneficial impact on the quality of provision and outcomes for children. The Children's Workforce Development Council, involving trade unions and other relevant organisations, produced a report for Department for Education and Skills in October 2006 examining the impact of pay and other rewards on issues of recruitment and retention across the children's workforce, including those working in early years. Their report is now available at www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/projects. The Department for Education and Skills will respond to the report's recommendations in the forthcoming update of its Children's Workforce Strategy. (Para 3.16)
It is only comparatively recently that women have regularly reached senior positions in professions in which they have been well established for a long time, such as the law and medicine. It is as yet too early to judge the success of the Government's Strategy for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology, which was launched in 2003. Changing the culture in areas like SET will clearly require sustained effort, but the process started by Baroness Greenfield's SET Fair report in 2002 appears to be gathering momentum. (Para 39)	N/A	N/A
There is a long-established view that certain jobs—senior managerial posts, skilled manufacturing jobs, key service industry posts—are unsuited to part-time and flexible working. This view is accepted far too uncritically: there appear to be a number of good examples where it has been perfectly practicable to re-arrange working hours while maintaining—sometimes even improving—productivity and performance. There are already indications that employers are re-thinking their attitudes, not least in light of the success of the recent introduction of the parental right to request flexible working. A number of employers have already extended this and have indicated that they are willing to consider requests from any of their employees. At present, we would not recommend introducing an element of compulsion on employers: the codification of best practice seems more likely to facilitate its widespread adoption than any statutory requirement would. However, we believe it would be useful to monitor the success rate of such requests, and to examine the reasons for refusal to see whether there are any grounds for instituting the sort of mechanism to challenge an employer's decision that Amicus suggested to us. (Para 48)	DTI should establish a UK-wide Quality Part-Time Work Change Initiative of £5 million to support new initiatives aimed at achieving a culture change, so that more senior jobs - particularly in the skilled occupations and the professions - are more open to part-time and flexible working. This should start from junior management level upwards, and include the roles considered "stepping stones" to senior management. Eligible projects might be: identifying senior role models, working part time or job sharing, who will champion the spread of best practice among managers; web-based job matching of those wanting to work part time with those offering quality jobs on a part-time or job share basis; job share services to put potential job share partners in touch and aimed at high quality occupations; specialist consultancy services to embed quality part-time work; e-networks for senior and professional women; other initiatives to spread best practice and achieve culture change. (Recommendation 11) DTI and HM Treasury should examine the case for fiscal incentives targeted at small firms to reduce the additional costs of employing part-time or flexible workers, for example, training costs, start-up IT costs. (Recommendation 19) Acas and the Northern Ireland Labour Relations Agency should be funded to develop a training package to support flexible working and that this package be delivered free to small firms. (Recommendation 20) The right to request flexible working should be extended over time to cover a wider group of employees. (Recommendation 16) The Ten Year Childcare Strategy should be delivered with particular consideration of the needs of women who work outside "9 to 5" hours and black and minority ethnic communities. There should be better promotion of the free childcare line. (Recommendation 21)	Quality part-time work Communities Secretary and Minister for Women, Ruth Kelly announced the fund open to bids on 30 January 2007 and the deadline for bids was 13 March 2007. Employers could apply for match-funded support, for example, to hire specialist advice to re-design higher level jobs in their organisation on a parttime basis. Voluntary groups and flexible working specialists were also able to apply for support for initiatives to facilitate quality part-time work. Applicants were asked to demonstrate that their projects had: clear objectives that offer benefits towards addressing the lack of quality part-time work; an innovative approach; top-level commitment from the organisation; and, potential to share best practice. The Government is now funding projects from across the private, public and voluntary sectors from the £500,000 fund to increase the number of quality jobs which are available on a part-time or job share basis. These range from redesigning jobs, coaching managers, and setting up a national job share register. (Para 5.8) Right to request flexible working The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is working with partners such as Carers UK, British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), employment lawyers and tax advisers to increase awareness of the right to request flexible working. DTI has already updated the guidance on flexible working to take into account the extension to the right for carers and is working to maximise the reach of this information to stakeholders. The Government will continue to consider the case for extending the right to request flexible working to parents of older children, taking into account the impact of the extension to carers, and working with business. The DTI's compendium of research (March 2007) on flexible working reviews the evidence on the impact of the right to request flexible working so far. (Para 5.6) Supporting women in returning to work From 2008 Local Authorities will be required to ensure there is sufficient childcare in their areas, paying particular attention to the needs of both lower income families and families with disabled children. (Para 4.5) Delivering flexible childcare DfES has committed £16.8 million, for a programme to create workplace nurseries. The Workplace Nurseries Capital programme, which will be delivered by Regional Development Agencies and managed by the London Development Agency, aims to help families balance home and work through enabling small and medium-sized businesses to provide childcare places close to the workplace. (Para 4.14)
We received evidence that the experience of equal pay audits has been mixed. Some of our witnesses believe they are of doubtful effectiveness as a tool to make companies take the issue of occupational segregation more seriously. They are probably of more use as a way of marking out those companies that employ best practice from others, which—given the likely consequences for recruitment and retention—may concentrate the minds of the less forward-looking companies. We do not wish to denigrate them as a means of facilitating the process of changing the overall culture with respect to equal treatment of the sexes. (Para 52)	N/A	Gender equality checks Communities and Local Government has identified key stakeholders to help develop the gender equality check tool. The Steering Group includes members from a social enterprise, the Small Business Service, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the TUC and private sector. The aim of the tool is to identify any problems and then point the way to further investigation and action. The group will also explore how best to integrate any new tool within the guidance and information already available to employees and employers, for example through direct.gov.uk and businesslink.gov.uk The Steering Group intends to have developed the gender equality check by early Summer 2007 with rollout planned for Autumn 2007. (Para 7.11)
Employers are showing increasing awareness of the damage that occupational segregation can do to their businesses. However, although there are some imaginative attempts to tackle the problems that deter women from taking certain jobs, as yet these seem to occur in isolation, and there needs to be more effort to share best practice. We discuss the potential role of the Regional Development Agencies ('RDAs') in this in the next Chapter; but, with a few honourable exceptions, there is also a need for greater effort by Sector Skills Councils and trade associations. We are not asking business to behave altruistically—though some companies will doubtless do so—but we do expect them to behave fairly, and to be aware of the effect on their competitiveness of a failure to act. (Para 55)	The Department for Education and Skills, DTI, Department for Work and Pensions and relevant Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland departments should develop programmes, linking with Train to Gain and the Sector Skills Councils, identifying best practice on career development and working with partner employers to create career paths. The programme should consider how best to recruit and retain women into non-traditional jobs; develop career paths for those working part time. (Recommendation 24) Private sector companies should consider the implications of this report for how they operate in order to make the most difference to the most women. A crossgovernment UK-wide package of measures should support awareness raising and capacity building to enable organisations to adopt solutions most relevant to them, which will have the most impact on women's pay and opportunity, including: promotion of best practice via business links and the business.gov website; £1 million funding for Investors in People (IiP). This should be used to support the adoption of the IiP Standard by small firms focusing on those growing rapidly, and to market to all firms - particularly in the five "c" sectors - the IiP Profile, in order to spread best practice on equality and diversity, fair pay and reward, and training; supporting employee involvement in workplace equality development via £5 million additional funding for the Union Modernisation Fund for capacity building to support training and development for equality reps in the private and public sectors; support for the development and marketing of equality checks. (Recommendation 30) DTI, through partners such as Opportunity Now, should build a set of exemplar companies willing to pilot projects such as: a new offer to schools to give girls work experience, in particular in non-traditional jobs; setting up a new women's network in senior or traditionally male jobs within the company; actively promoting quality part-time jobs; a recruitment round which supports women returners' development needs including confidence building and other support mechanisms; developing career pathways for women working in lower-paid jobs; providing paid time off, support and facilities to a network of equality reps; undertaking an equal pay review. (Recommendation 31)	Exemplar employer initiative Government now has over 100 exemplar employers drawn from both the public and private sectors. The initiative has shown that there is a huge amount of positive work going on in different sectors across the UK. Here is a small selection: BAE Systems, Guardian Newpapers and Denbighshire County Council areleading the way with projects to tackle occupational segregation; ASDA, BT and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, are working with schools to tackle equality issues; Champions for Flexibility Scheme The UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) has launched its Champions for Flexibility Scheme (formally the Employer Innovation Fund). This scheme works with SET employers on activities to increase the number of flexible and part-time roles, particularly at senior levels, and will continue throughout 2007. The scheme enables SET employers to bid for financial support of up to £20,000 to fund activities such as analysing and promoting the business benefits of flexible working, investigation of current practices and, crucially, the development of roles to be carried out part-time or flexibly. Omagh College, Women Builders Ltd, Centrica and the University of Southampton are looking to provide support to women who want to break into non-traditional subjects such as IT, construction, engineering and science; Arriva, Ernst and Young, and Camelot are leading the way in supporting women returners and carers; and, Procter and Gamble, English Partnerships and IBM are all working to help women to develop management and leadership skills. In January 2007, Communities and Local Government, in conjunction with CBI and Opportunity Now, hosted an event which showcased these exemplar employers. Discussion at the event focused on how Government can work with employers, and in particular, how best to address the lack of quality part-time work and break down occupational segregation. Communities and Local Government will continue to disseminate the lessons learnt and case studies from this initiative and will hold a one day best practice conference in Spring 2007 for employers and others (including consultants, charities, web-service providers) to discuss the impact of the initiatives on workplace practice and the lessons learned. Communities and Local Government will draw together the initiatives and lessons learned into a best practice document to be published on the internet in Summer 2007. (Para 5.11) Women on boards The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is seeking to increase the diversity of Further Education (FE) college governing bodies and, in January 2007, contracted the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) to take forward the recommendation made by Sir Andrew Foster (Foster, 2005) to review the process for the recruitment of college chairs of governors. The CEL work will review, and build on, existing research in this area and identify a number of actions that might improve the diversity of FE governors including improving recruitment and induction schemes, reviewing and exploring methods of engaging a wider range of individuals including women as potential governors. An action plan, to be published in Summer 2007, will take forward recommendations to improve governor diversity. The Government supported the annual Female FTSE report produced by Cranfield School of Management (Singh and Vinnicombe, 2006) which provides the necessary evidence base to underpin efforts to increase board diversity. (Para 5.12)
Some RDAs are running schemes to provide women returning to work after career breaks with advice on career options, access to training, work placements, and good quality, affordable childcare. We are concerned that they are still at the pilot stage—we would have thought that RDAs would have already finished experimenting in this area and that they would be disseminating and adopting best practice by now. We are also surprised at how tentative the DTI seems to be about the development of these pilot programmes: "If the model proves successful then, potentially, there is scope to explore whether it could be applied more widely" shows less than wholehearted belief that successful programmes will be adopted by RDAs en masse. (Para 56)	N/A	N/A
RDAs may have committed themselves to seriously tackling occupational segregation as a major focus of their work in improving the skills of the workforce and boosting productivity in their area; but the comparative silence about what they are doing leads us to conclude that most have yet to take the issue fully on board. Given their key role in ensuring that the needs and wishes of local businesses are taken into account in regional development policies, and their position as local agents for the delivery of much of the Government's policy with respect to industry and commerce, we would have expected them to be playing a larger part in the attempts to engage the attention of employers on the disadvantages of occupational segregation. (Para 57)	N/A	N/A
We think that there needs to be greater co-ordination between government departments. Since 2002-03 there has been an explicit Public Service Agreement target across Government about delivering achievable improvements in equality for women. We are also aware that the Women and Equality Unit has been given the task of advising other departments on their specific targets for achieving this and of reporting on progress across Government. However, we suspect that other departments have not fully integrated into their policy decisions the need to be conscious of any effects on occupational segregation. We believe, for example, that the DfES has only recently started to consider the issue of segregation in the recruitment of apprentices; the Learning and Skills Council admitted that, although it had held information on training broken down by gender, it had never thought of making use of it before the EOC's investigation into the area; and we are still uncertain of the extent to which the DWP's general training and employment programmes take into account the difficulties faced by women returning to work. It is not clear to us whether the slowness of other departments in addressing the issues is a result of insufficient vigour in the lead Department, the DTI, or a lack of co-operation from the other departments. It appears to us that the Women and Equality Unit still has considerable work to do, and may have neither the authority in relation to other departments nor the resources to do it. (Para 59)	Public sector employers should account to a Ministerial Committee and report to a Cabinet Office Steering Group, with representatives from UK-wide public service employers and trade unions, on how they have put the recommendations in this report into practice, in particular on the results arising from their establishment of: equal pay reviews; time off and facilities for a network of equality reps; job share registers for high-quality occupations and e-networks for senior and professional women; a network of senior part-time role models to champion quality part-time work; career development pathways for lowpaid part-time workers; continuous training for all line managers on flexible working and diversity issues; a coherent approach to schools' World of Work Programme, offering work experience and taster days and encouraging girls and boys to experience non-traditional occupations. (Recommendation 32) A new Cabinet sub-Committee of Ministers should be formed, chaired by the Minister for Women, to oversee the implementation of our recommendations. (Recommendation 39) The Public Sector Pay Committee gateway should call all public services to account for how any proposed new pay systems address all the causes of the gender pay gap which give rise to costs in the longer term. HM Treasury should ask public sector employers to account for their progress on equal pay during the Comprehensive Spending Review. (Recommendation 34)	Equal pay A set of Civil Service Reward Principles were also developed in October 2006 which set a framework within which departments can develop appropriate reward strategies. High level principles in support of equal pay set out the need to: eliminate direct and indirect reward discrimination and reduce any unjustified gender pay gaps; operate reward systems that are perceived by staff to be reasonable and transparent; and, evaluate and keep up to date reward systems and structures to ensure that they continue to meet the requirements of legislation. (Para 7.6)
The Government has given a strong lead in the field of racial equality through both the adoption of a general public duty to promote such equality and through procurement policy. We think it would be valuable for the question of gender equality to be treated in the same way. (Para 61)	The new Gender Duty should specifically ensure that action is taken on all causes of the gender pay gap including occupational segregation, the impact of family responsibilities and unequal pay. Specified action should include a regular equal pay review and action plan. In seeking solutions to equal pay, public authorities should act in partnership with unions. (Recommendation 33)	N/A
While we understand the Minister's concerns, it seems to us that the 1970 Equal Pay Act is reaching the limits of its usefulness. There appears to be a consensus among analysts of the labour market that most of the remaining gender pay gap is attributable to factors other than 'straightforward' discrimination, and it is notable that the rate of decrease in the pay gap has slowed almost to a stop in recent years. Although there are difficulties in dealing with the deep-seated problem of the undervaluing of women's work through legislation, the concepts of "work of equal value" and indirect discrimination are already embedded in statute, and we believe that it should be possible to build on these. We regret that the Government appears to be ruling changes out as 'too difficult' without having undertaken a serious review of the options. (Para 63)	Current guidance to the equal pay questionnaire should be altered to make it clear that the Data Protection Act does not prevent the provision of pay information, in order to encourage employers to respond without the need for the employee to apply to a tribunal. (Recommendation 36) The Discrimination Law Review should consider more fully the issues of whether or not to extend the hypothetical comparator to equal pay claims, and of generic or representative equal pay claims. (Recommendation 37)	The Women and Work Commission recommended that the guidance to the Equal Pay Questionnaire be amended to make clear that the Data Protection Act does not prevent employers from providing pay information. The guidance notes under Part 4 of the Equal Pay Questionnaire were revised in February 2007 to make it clear to employers that the Data Protection Act 1998 is not an automatic bar to the disclosure of information required in the questionnaire. (Para 7.8)
N/A	Government information campaigns should show women in occupations not traditionally taken up by them, and men as parents and carers. The media, in particular drama and advertising, should be encouraged to do likewise. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport should set up two high-level groups, of advertisers and key players in television drama, to encourage non-stereotypical portrayals of women and men at work. (Recommendation 10)	Avoiding gender stereotyping in the media The UK Resource Centre has commissioned two pieces of research into the representations of women scientists and engineers in the media: Cardiff University will look at a range of media representations (TV, radio, newspaper and film) and speak to focus groups of women about the influence of those representations on their career aspirations; and, The Open University will analyse children's and young people's TV and bring groups of children and young people together to discuss the roles women take in those programmes. (Para 2.15)
N/A	Part-time workers and those on career breaks should receive pro-rata treatment from professional bodies for membership fees, and discounts from training providers for continuous professional development, to support the retention of women in the professions. (Recommendation 12)	Supporting and promoting women in the professions Deputy Minister for Women and Equality Meg Munn wrote to over 150 professional bodies in the UK, bringing this recommendation to their attention, and asking them to consider offering these discounts to part-time workers and those on career breaks where they did not already do so. Despite a disappointing level of responses overall, organisations who did respond had good practice to share. Some professional bodies do offer such discounts, in particular for those on career breaks or who are low paid, including those working part-time. We also learned of other excellent practice among professional bodies in promoting and retaining women's skills in the professions. The Government urges other professional bodies to review their procedures to do more on pro-rata membership fees for lower-earning or part-time workers, and to follow best practice in supporting, developing and retaining women's skills in the professions. (Para 5.13)
N/A	A more local approach should be taken to the matching of jobs and skills. Regional Development Agencies and national agencies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should provide grant funding for outreach services aimed at women seeking local jobs or training which match their skills and potential. They should consider in particular the Women Like Us model whereby local social entrepreneurs use community centres, schools, and children's centres to recruit local women into local jobs and training. This should be piloted in five areas including London, a rural area, and an area with a substantial ethnic minority community. Extensions to the model might include: public, private or voluntary sector services which provide confidence building through peer support, experience of work or work shadowing, or training; services which address the particular needs of women from local black and minority ethnic communities, homeworkers or other groups, for example disabled women. (Recommendation 13)	Building Future Jobs Ecosystem The project targets the London Boroughs of Brent, Hackney, Haringey, Newham and Tower Hamlets. It will strive to build capacity in the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), test the innovation of the 'Ecosystem', and achieve the following: engage 3500 minority ethnic individuals from African, Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups and place at least 35 per cent of these engaged into permanent employment; establish links and secure guaranteed interviews with employers such as KPMG, BT, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and others who have committed to filling vacancies with minority ethnic clients; and, deliver a 'career health check' to those placed into work after six months of employment. (Para 4.45)
N/A	The Skills Alliance Delivery Group, which has an overview of skills activity including that related to the London 2012 Olympic Games, should ensure that reducing the gender segregation of jobs is part of plans for tackling skills shortages in the relevant sectors, such as construction. (Recommendation 23)	London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games A diversity delivery plan has been drawn up in consultation with stakeholders and sets out the desired equality benefits from the Games. Tackling gender segregation of employment is a key element of this plan. A stakeholder group including representatives of each of the equality strands will scrutinise the implementation of the plan and will be supported by the Government Olympic Executive. (Para 3.12)
N/A	All organisations promoting entrepreneurship to women should promote, as a key benefit, the work-life balance and flexible working possibilities of running your own business. (Recommendation 26)	Women's enterprise The Women's Enterprise Task Force was established in November 2006 to encourage more women across the country to start and run successful businesses. It has a particular role in highlighting good practice and stories of success in women-led enterprises. Working alongside the Women's Enterprise Task Force will be a national network of 1,000 female entrepreneurs. These women will work to help inspire and support women in setting up their own businesses. They will provide practical, female-focused advice and guidance to help build know-how and confidence in the women they meet. Five Regional Development Agencies are running pilots of innovative approaches to supporting women's enterprise. These pilots will be assessed in mid-2007, with the successful elements informing future business support for women. The National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship will launch a new support programme for women graduates and recent graduates in late 2007, helping the potential entrepreneurs develop business plans and providing support for the first twelve months of setting up a company. (Para 6.3) Women's Enterprise Task Force The Task Force is working toward a number of high-level priorities based around the following principles: Awareness - The new body will ensure that the opportunities for women's enterprise are embedded in the consciousness of would-be female entrepreneurs, Government and key stakeholders. Connectivity - The new body will work to build links with Government Departments, the public, private and voluntary sectors, as well as with the enterprise support community. Accessibility - The new body will have access to Government officials and Ministers at the highest level, as well as access to the latest statistical and survey data. It will be able to commission work to plug gaps in data collection. Sustainability - The new body will lay down a long-term legacy that will lead to both a step-change in attitudes to female entrepreneurship and lead to an increase in start-up rates and growth. Speed - The new body will act as a catalyst for change, development and acceleration of the agenda, providing quality and timely advice to those in Government and the regions involved in strategic women's enterprise development. Results - The new body will be customer-driven and focused on outcomes, and will set measurable targets and indicators on which its performance can be monitored and assessed. The Task Force will provide expert advice on best practice in policy development, implementation and delivery. (Para 6.6) Regional Women's Enterprise Unit Pilots Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) from five regions are running pilot regional Women's Enterprise Units to trial different approaches to supporting the start-up and growth of female-owned businesses. The purpose is to ensure that high quality, female-friendly business support is available to women from the pre startup stage onwards, to help women run sustainable business with the potential to grow should they wish to. North West: The North West Development Agency (NWDA) is testing approaches for providing advisory and support services through a virtual Women's Enterprise Unit. The work is being taken forward through a Regional Strategic Women's Enterprise Steering Group, and is in the process of appointing five sub-regional Women's Enterprise Advocates to support work across the region. North East: The One NorthEast pilot is designed to raise awareness of women's enterprise among stakeholders, advisers and women themselves. This will be achieved through a range of activities including the establishment of a Working Group to drive forward the implementation of the Women's Enterprise Strategy; development of a gender-proofing framework; fostering a closer working relationship with Women into the Network (WIN), a local networking organisation for female entrepreneurs; and an awareness programme for women. Yorkshire and the Humber: The Yorkshire Forward pilot is designed to create a better understanding of women's enterprise in the region through an enhanced evidence base; development of 'Best Practice Guidelines' for supporting women's enterprise to improve the services available to female customers, ensuring that mainstream support is tailored to meet their needs; and making a strong economic case within Yorkshire and the Humber for continued investment in women's enterprise. East Midlands: The East Midlands Development Agency pilot has four strands: Universal Start Up Offer outreach work to women in disadvantaged communities; research into the business support needs and expectations of women in minority communities; Regional Road Shows to provide cross-region coverage to engage with women who are thinking of starting a business as well as those already in business and develop a network of providers to share best practice and develop links; and updating the regional directory of business support and making it an online resource including interactive mapping. West Midlands: The Advantage West Midlands pilot is based on the highly successful 'Women's Business Centre' model which operates in the U.S. It aims to build capacity and ensure that support is delivered to the key growth sector within the market. The main activities include: developing skills for business start-up; basic introduction to enterprise; confidence building and introducing basic concepts such as legislation, finance, mentoring and growth; start-up training for refugee women; training for growth - a six month training package for women looking to start science and engineering businesses; a high growth programme which embeds growth into business plans at the earliest opportunity and overcomes risk aversion; and intensive mentoring using role models from clients' own peer groups who will offer one-to-one support. An initial evaluation of the pilots and the lessons learnt in developing future business support will be available in Spring 2007. (Paras 6.8-6.9)
N/A	The Low Pay Commission's standing terms of reference should be amended to include a gender impact assessment as part of each report. Targeted enforcement of the national minimum wage should be directed at sectors employing large numbers of women. (Recommendation 29)	N/A
N/A	The Equal Opportunities Commission or Commission for Equality and Human Rights, with support from DTI, the Office of Government Commerce, the Scottish Executive Procurement Directorate and other interested stakeholders, should develop practical, equalities-led procurement advice which actively encourages public sector procuring authorities to promote good practice in diversity and equal pay matters among contractors so that it becomes the norm. Public authorities should ensure that their contractors promote gender equality in line with the public sector Gender Duty, and equal pay in line with current legislation. This intention should be flagged up in contract documents to ensure that it is built into contractors' plans and bids. Government should appoint a ministerial champion of procurement as a means of spreading best practice in diversity and equal pay matters. Private sector companies who engage in substantial procurement should also use procurement to spread best practice. (Recommendation 35)	Procurement The Government's overall approach to procurement policy, as set out in Transforming government procurement (published in January 2007), is to deliver world class public services that are value for money for the taxpayer, based on open and fair competition. The public sector duty on gender equality which comes into force on 6 April 2007 will mean that public bodies will have to assess the relevance of gender equality issues when contracting out any of their public functions. For example, if a public body was providing adult education services, it might wish to ensure that the supplier took account of the fact that women with children are likely to only be able to attend classes in school hours during term time. The Code of Practice, accessible on the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) website, will cover guidance on how the gender equality duty will impact on the procurement of goods and services. (Para 7.13)
N/A	The Women and Equality Unit should develop the Gender Equality Public Service Agreement so that the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 target better reflects the themes, ambitions and recommendations of this report. (Recommendation 38)	N/A
N/A	N/A	Minority ethnic women DWP have asked that the business plans of local consortia undertaking projects on economic regeneration and reducing worklessness must consider the impacts on minority ethnic women. (Para 4.30) Minority ethnic women: working with employers Training packages are being developed for employers and employees on how to reduce discrimination against minority ethnic candidates in recruitment and progression. (Para 4.35)
N/A	N/A	Equality Representatives Capacity building for equality reps is a priority theme in the second round of the Union Modernisation Fund. Discussions have taken place with the TUC to ensure appropriate prominence for the equality representative theme. Workshops for potential applicants (both TUC affiliated and non-affiliated) were held by DTI in early December 2006 and were very positively received. The TUC is actively encouraging unions to submit bids to the UMF and will submit its own bid. Applications will close in April 2007 and the winning projects are expected to be announced in September. A number of unions have already signalled their intention to submit equality reps bids. In the meantime, the three current equality representative projects funded under UMF Round One (the National Union of Journalists, Wales TUC and the Transport and General Workers Union) are starting to produce positive outcomes with some months still to run. Lessons learnt from Rounds One and Two will be included in a broader dissemination programme, including case studies and networking events. As a start to the dissemination programme, DTI held a successful UMF networking event for Round 1 projects and Round 2 applicants in March 2007. This included a presentation on Wales TUC's equality representative project. (Para 7.12)



© Parliamentary copyright 2008	Prepared 9 February 2008