Memorandum submitted by Pat McFadden,
Minister for Employment Relations & Postal Affairs, BERR
As you know I was due to attend your Sub-Committee
on the 16 October to answer questions on what we are doing in
the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
to implement the Women and Work Commission's recommendations for
closing the gender pay gap. As it is unlikely to be able to rearrange
a session I thought it may help to provide you with an outline
of the areas where I see BERR making a leading contribution and
to pass on some useful research and information.
As you know, this is an area which Harriet Harman's
new Government Equalities Office is very much in the lead in terms
of coordinating activity. We contributed to her predecessor unit,
the Women and Equalities Unit, when they were putting together
the Government Action Plan in response to the Women & Work
Commission's recommendations. And we see our policies contributing
toward the new GEO-led Equalities PSA that includes a target on
closing the gender pay gap.
With the machinery of government changes, I
now see BERR as contributing in at least four key areas:
— first we contribute through a strong,
up-to-date evidence base, including major surveys and research
to monitor the take up of flexible working, examine unfair treatment
at work and understand the gender pay gap. The Department will
soon publish a study entitled Part-Time Work and the Gender
Pay Gap in British Workplaces: Findings from the 2004 Workplace
Employment Relations Survey. The provisional findings of this
study underline the complexity of the problem, showing that occupational
segregation accounted for one-quarter of the earnings gap between
full-time men and part-time women, while another fifth of the
gap is explained by industry segregation. Over one-third of the
pay gap could not be explained. However there was no evidence
of a "part-time pay penalty", additional to the gender
pay gap faced by women in full-time jobs;
— second, BERR leads on the policy
on the right to request flexible working, which we extended to
carers in April this year, and on maternity and paternity leave
and pay. The right to request has been a huge success, with over
80% of requests agreed. We are monitoring the impact of the legislation
and continuing to keep it under review;
— third, just last month at the TUC,
I announced support through the Union Modernisation Fund to a
series of projects which will help develop a network of equality
representatives. I enclose some details of the relevant projects
from this second round and also three earlier equality representative
projects funded under the first round;
— finally, BERR is also actively engaged
in helping foster the start up and growth of women's enterprises,
working with key partners such as the Regional Development Agencies,
Enterprise Insight and the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship.
We established the Task Force on Women's Enterprise in November
2006 to accelerate the UK further towards US levels of female
entrepreneurship. The Task Force's remit is to advise Government,
RDAs, and the private sector on how the economic contribution
of women's enterprise can be increased in the UK; to identify
issues and barriers to more women starting and growing their business
and how they might be addressed; and by providing advocacy Task
Force members will lobby and raise the profile of the women's
enterprise agenda.
More generally, much of what we do to set the
broader framework of minimum standards and protections and making
employees and employers aware of their rights and responsibilities
has an indirect, though very positive effect on improving opportunities
for women in work and closing the gender pay gap. For example:
— the National Minimum Wage has particularly
benefited women by eliminating the hourly gender pay gap in the
lowest paid jobs. We estimate two thirds of beneficiaries this
year are women. The effect of the minimum wage on women is amongst
the factors that the Low Pay Commission is tasked with taking
into account in putting forward its recommendations for the NMW
rate;
— we are also making significant improvements
to the guidance we provide to employers and employees. In line
with our commitment to Transformational Government we are focusing
this very much around businesslink.gov and direct.gov. The businesslink.gov
Employing People pages will shortly include an Equality Tool,
as recommended by the Women & Work Commission, which we helped
develop with GEO. And we are looking to make a step change in
awareness and use of the resources available to businesses on
employing people as a key step toward simplifying what businesses
need to know.
Finally, BERR is also conscious of its own responsibilities
as an employer. We have separately provided a response to your
questionnaire on this.
I hope this is useful to you and your Sub-Committee
and demonstrates our commitment to contributing through our work
to this very important challenge.
Annex
UMF AND EQUALITY REPS: NOTE ON PROJECT STATUS
ROUND ONE
EQUALITY REP
PROJECTS
Three Round One projects cover equality reps.
They still have some time to run, but early signs (as with other
R1 projects) are encouraging, with work proceeding well against
objectives:
TGWU
Eighteen-month project to develop a toolkit
for equality reps, which will be piloted with employers. Progress:
toolkit launched; good progress made with employer engagement
process.
NUJ
Two-year project to establish, organise and
train a network of equality reps; using this as a platform to
build equality agreements into collective bargaining arrangements
with key employers. Progress: membership survey undertaken; equalities
handbook produced; training undertakin; on-line resources developed.
Wales TUC
Two-year project to build capacity for equality
reps, including: research into the needs of disadvantaged workers;
development of website; awareness-raising of new discrimination
legislation; training for equality reps; and creation of best
practice network. Progress: research underway; website launched;
training underway; equality network in development.
ROUND TWO
EQUALITY REP
PROJECTS
Ten equality rep-related projects awarded funding
under Round Two (out of a total of 28 winners). Over 3900,000
has been committed to these projects. BERR is currently negotiating
formal grant terms with the winners—it is expected most
will commence shortly. BERR is working closely with TUC to ensure
tgood practice is shared and learning is widely disseminated.
The projects are:
Scottish TUC. One Workplace Equal Rights: Tools
and training for workplace representatives
A project which seeks to address the significant
gap between initial successes in its equalities work and the effective
mainstreaming of equalities activities within affiliate unions.
This will be achieved via development of a training package; development
of a best practice network; the dissemination of outcomes across
affiliates; and mainstreaming of the activity within the STUC
work plan.
Unison—Establishing equality reps in Unison
The project seeks to support Unison's equality
strategy by training and development of equality reps; capacity
building to engage more effectively with employers; and improvements
to service delivery to ensure equality and diversity issues are
addressed effectively by employers.
TUC—Training and evaluating union equality
reps
The project seeks to develop a targeted training
programme for tutors and union equality reps to ensure they focus
on relevant issues and engage effectively with both employers
and members. TUC would work with unions to provide general courses
open to all; targeted training for individual unions; and to share
good practice from those undertaking their own training.
General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) and
Connect—A New Agenda for Equality in the Work place: training
for equality reps
The project seeks to develop training and on-line
learning opportunities for equality reps, as well as establish
national and union-based networks for reps. GFTU will work with
the CEHR to ensure synergies with their policy priorities.
Prospect—Building capacity within the defence
sector to develop and sustain Prospect equality reps
The project seeks to extend the scope of the
union's activities in the defence sector, to groups currently
marginalised, and transform representative structures. This would
be achieved by undertaking initial research; developing strategies
to overcome barriers to participation; establishing training,
development and mentoring programmes; and mainstreaming the activity
in collective bargaining/consultative machinery.
National Union of teachers (NUT)—Fairer
futures: putting equality opportunities at the heart of NUT local
structures
The project seeks to build the capacity and
effectiveness of equal opportunities officers (EOOs) and re-vitalise
participation in NUT's local structures. This will be delivered
via recruitment of additional EOOs, a training and development
programme and development of a good-practice network.
Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA)—Underpinning
equalities: capacity building and beyond
The project seeks to mainstream the equalities
agenda by assisting the unions Self-Organising Groups to engage
with their constituents; provide modular, tailored training for
reps; and build capacity through a network of lay advisors.
National Union of Schoolmasters, Union of Women
Teachers (NASUWT)—Support for overseas trained teachers
in London and the South-East
The project seeks to provide more effective
access to information for overseas trained teachers (OTTs) on
professional aspects of the teachers' role as well as social and
cultural issues; and to enhance the effectiveness with which the
union responds to the needs of OTTs. This would be delivered via
a dedicated website and targeted training for union equality officers.
Communications Workers Union (CWU)—Deconstructing
equality barriers through union training
The project seeks to further modernise their
equality-based education and training materials via an interactive
toolkit on equality legislation and a best practice guide on industrial
relations.
Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)—Mentoring
for women reps
The project seeks to tackle the under-representation
of women in key branch and regional union positions within PCS
Wales via an accredited mentoring, skills training and leadership
training programme.
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