Government response
1. The Government Equalities Office (GEO) welcomes
the report "Jobs for the Girls: Two Years On" from the
Business and Enterprise Committee.[1]
The Government believes that tackling occupational segregation
and the gender pay gap is a crucial part of ensuring equality
of opportunity. Equality of opportunity underpins a strong economy
and a strong economy enables everyone to play their part. Therefore,
progress in this area is good for individual women and for society
as a whole.
2. The Committee, in its work and recommendations,
has recognised the cross-governmental nature of work to tackle
occupational segregation and the gender pay gap. The GEO is pleased
to include responses from the Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the Department for Innovation, Universities
and Skills (DIUS), the Department for Children, Schools and Families
(DCSF), the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG),
the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Office of Government Commerce
(OGC). In addition, the Government has invited the Equality and
Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to respond where the Committee's
recommendations address them directly.
3. The Committee recognises that the gender pay
gap has been reduced from 17.4% to 12.6% between 1997 and 2007.
Closing the gender pay gap is, for the first time, a priority
within the Government's Equality Public Service Agreement (PSA
15). The GEO will oversee the action plan to achieve this and
co-ordinate work across Government.
4. The Women and Work Commission, in its 2006
report, indicated a range of causes and barriers that contribute
to the gender pay gap. Government action includes both legislative
and non-legislative measures to:
i. prevent and tackle discrimination and promote
equality in education, training and in the workplace;
ii. support individuals to manage their working
lives and meet personal commitments, particularly caring for children
and for older or disabled relatives;
iii. challenge and address pervasive attitudes
about work and learning aspirations for women and girls, attitudes
that underestimate ability, achievement or potential;
iv. provide the opportunities for women to get
the training and qualifications required to achieve the jobs they
want and progress in their careers.
5. The Government aims to introduce an Equality
Bill during this Parliament. The Bill will produce clear,
modern law which support our goal of a fair and equal society.
Last year the Government published its consultation document "A
Framework for Fairness" and a number of the Committee's recommendations
cover areas included in the consultation. The Government is currently
considering the feedback from the consultation and will respond
shortly with its proposals.
6. As well as bringing forward legislation, the
Government is working to ensure that at different stages of life,
girls and women can make choices about education, careers and
work. A lack of information and social stereotypes about "women's
work" can mean girls do not choose routes into traditionally
male-dominated professions. Some types of work can appear closed
to women, which reinforces occupational segregation. When women
do enter the labour market, too often they find they are limited
in the type and quality of jobs that provide the flexibility required
to meet family and caring commitments. This wastes women's talent,
experience and potential. The Government is taking action to address
each of these issues.
7. In schools, there is increased support for
teachers on careers education. New training materials and good
practice guidance on specialist careers advice will help teachers
to challenge stereotypical views of careers. Work-related learning can
provide opportunities for young people to learn about, experience
and help prepare for entry into non-traditional occupations and
sectors.
8. The Government is investing in training and
skills for women wishing to enter non-traditional sectors. We
recently announced an extension of the Women and Work Sector Pathways
Initiatives to improve the career opportunities of women in sectors
where there are specific skills shortages and skills gaps, and
where women are under represented. Five of the most successful
initiatives will be taken forward in construction; agriculture;
automotive retail; clothing and footwear manufacture; and property
services and facilities management, and other occupational sectors
will be invited to participate.
9. The Government has introduced the right to
request flexible working for parents of young children and carers,
and has commissioned a review into extending the right to parents
of older children. Increased childcare provision and financial
support has helped many families balance work and childcare more
effectively. In addition, the Government is working successfully
with employers to share knowledge of the benefits of flexible
working. Unlocking the talent of women entrepreneurs is at the
heart of the Government's new Enterprise strategy, which includes
a £12.5 million capital fund for women-led businesses and
a package of support for, and promotion of, women in business.
10. The responses to the Committee's recommendations,
set out below, provide more detail on the action being taken.
The Government will continue to develop its work in this area.
The recently established EHRC will also make a significant contribution
to future success.
It is not yet clear how successful the attempts
to spread best practice in relation to the careers advice and
work experience placements arranged by schools have been. It will
be some years before any improvements will feed through into the
workforce. In the meantime, the Department for Children, Schools
and Families must realise the importance of these apparently 'extra'
duties of careers advice and work experience to achieving the
Government's equality aims and must give more support and funding
to the provision of those services in schools. (Paragraph 10)[2]
11. In December 2007, the DCSF published the
"Children's Plan", which outlines measures to present
young people with more exciting and challenging careers education
in schools. This will include opportunities for experiential learning
such as taster sessions. Experiential learning will help open
children's minds to different ideas, and challenge traditional
learning and career routes. The importance of early careers interventions
in extending horizons and raising aspirations will be tested by
new pathfinder projects at Key Stage 2. High quality classroom
materials to support careers education teachers will also be made
available and these will include discussion and information provision
on gender equality.
12. The provision of careers education in schools
is supported by external Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG)
services, such as Connexions. Responsibility for the delivery
of these services has been moved to local authorities. The DCSF
has set out clear expectations of the IAG services that local
authorities commission and manage by introducing new Quality Standards.
This guidance emphasises the importance of challenging gender
stereotypes, and states that IAG services should promote equality
of opportunity, celebrate diversity and challenge stereotypes.
It suggests the use of positive action activities, taster sessions,
appropriate role models and work placements to challenge limited
career aspirations and stereotypes.
13. The Government is proposing, through the
Education and Skills Bill, that local authorities should have
regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State, which includes
the new Quality Standards. The Education and Skills Bill will
also place a statutory duty on schools to deliver careers education
impartially, and will require that advice must be in the best
interests of the pupil. This requirement will be underpinned by
guidance that will emphasise the importance of challenging stereotypes.
14. The DCSF currently provides £25 million
each year for work related learning activities provided by Education
Business Partnership Organisations (EBPOs), and there is an additional
£55 million for Enterprise activities in schools each
year. The funding for work related learning is distributed
to the EBPOs in each region who manage and oversee a range of
activities including supporting schools to arrange work experience
placements for young people. The network of EBPOs, working with
schools, delivers over half a million work experience placements
each year to 95% of all young people. Most of the young people,
and the employers they work with, enjoy and value the experience.
15. The Government recognises that schools are
working hard to deliver work-related learning and, in its "Building
on the Best" report, published in 2007, committed to produce
new standards for work experience and for EBPOs which will be
available during Spring 2008. Additionally, DCSF is working with
workforce agencies and partners to build local capacity and capability of
the teaching workforce to deliver work-related learning. This
includes ensuring teachers are up to date with industry practice
to support the new Diplomas.
16. On 31 August 2007, the Qualifications and
Curriculum Authority (QCA) published a positive report on the
development of work-related learning and concluded that there
is clear evidence that work-related learning is well established
in schools and that most schools, with their partners, are implementing
this well. The QCA is revising the framework for work-related
learning, and Government will use the opportunity to reinforce
the value of work-related learning in providing learners with
ways to explore and experience non-traditional occupational areas.
Employers—especially smaller companies without
HR departments—find it difficult to devote the time and
resources needed first to set up good work experience placements
and secondly to ensure that they have met all the safety requirements.
There is clearly a role for Sector Skills Councils, Chambers of
Commerce and trade organisations, as well as Learning and Skills
Councils, in providing information and helping companies to forge
stronger business-education partnerships at a local level. (Paragraph
11)
17. Securing successful delivery of work experience
for young people is the job of EBPOs, sponsored by DCSF. The EBPOs
form partnerships with Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)
at a local level. The responsibility for the successful delivery
of apprenticeships and work-based training for post-16 learners
is the job of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), working with
its contracted training providers. The DCSF works closely with
the LSC to monitor how this is working and are looking at ways
of improving the annual reporting and monitoring process.
18. Sector Skills Councils are strategic bodies
whose role is to influence the skills market on behalf of all
employers in their sector.
While we welcome the initiatives to encourage
women who wish to do so to train in non-traditional fields of
work, we are pleased that some of the initiatives are focusing
on encouraging women to take more senior and responsible positions
in traditional sectors, such as the project by Improve (the Sector
Skills Council for the food and drink industry) to give NVQ3 training
to 300 women workers in food manufacturing to enable them to become
supervisors or team leaders; and Asset Skill's programme to teach
workers in the cleaning sector management skills. Tackling 'horizontal
segregation'—the dominance of managerial and professional
jobs by men in sectors where the majority of the employees are
women—is as important in opening up opportunities for women
as ending 'vertical' or sectoral segregation. (Paragraph 13)
19. The Government welcomes this conclusion by
the Committee. Through its work on Train to Gain and sector pathways
in response to the Women and Work Commission, the Government wishes
to remove those barriers, perceived or actual, that prevent real
equality in access to the skills needed for sustainable and profitable
careers. The Government shall continue to identify and address
those barriers as it expands and enhances Train to Gain and our
other channels for supporting employers and individuals. The forthcoming
Equality Impact Assessment of Train to Gain, due for completion
in late Spring 2008, will help us analyse the current even gender
balance of participants in the programme and think through ways
to help women progress.
The various pilots launched by the Government
are welcome. By definition, it is likely that some will be more
successful than others. It would be a wasted opportunity if any
good practice learned were left to die with the pilots themselves.
We recommend that, before the pilots are evaluated, the Department
for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) plans carefully
how to ensure the continuance and extension or roll-out of the
successful initiatives (Paragraph 16)
20. The Committee's support for the Government
pilots is very welcome and the recommendation to evaluate and
extend the successful programmes is in line with Government plans.
DIUS has supported three types of pilot, introduced in direct
response to the original WWC report:
- Women and Work sector pathways
initiative
- Skills coaching
- Train to Gain Level 3 pilot
21. Over the first two years of the Women
& Work Sector Pathways Initiative nine Sector Skills Councils
(SSCs) have been involved, delivering approximately 8,000 outcomes
(defined as completion of an individual's action plan, e.g. recruitment, achievement
of a qualification, development of a career path). On 7 March
2008 DIUS announced further funding of £5 million per year
for each of the next three years (2008/09—2010/11). The
five most successful projects will continue (run by ConstructionSkills,
Lantra, Skillfast-UK, Asset Skills, and Automotive
Skills) and DIUS will encourage new innovative approaches in 2008/09,
when a further roll-out of the initiative will allow all SSCs
an opportunity to propose projects to address the needs of women
in their sector. Proposals will need to be supported by identification
of skills shortages in each SSC's Sector Skills Agreement and
by evidence to allow the SSC to take positive action.
22. The continued Women and Work Sector Pathways
Initiative will aim to help 5,000 women each year. A feature
of the programme is that women are able to identify new learning
and career paths, which may provide them with the motivation and
opportunity to continue learning through other Government and/or
employer supported initiatives. Best practice is identified through
an SSC networking group, and any new SSCs taking this project
forward will join the group. The initiative is subject to a full
evaluation.
23. Funding for skills coaching pilots
finishes in 2008. Features of the pilots that have proved effective
in enabling women to return to learning and work will be built
into the new policy framework for the new Adult Advancement and
Careers Service (AACS) which is due to be issued soon. As part
of a phased introduction for the AACS, elements of the new service
will be trialled in the Nextstep face-to-face careers advice service
for which the LSC is currently undertaking a re-contracting exercise.
The Adult Advancement and Careers Service will be fully operational
in 2010/11.
24. Recruitment to the Train to Gain Level
3 pilot will finish at the end of July 2008 and learners will
have until the end of July 2010 to complete their course. The
pilot aimed to help women, especially from BME groups, to progress
to supervisor/first tier manager level in non-traditional areas
where they are under represented, particularly helping to position
women to take advantage of new opportunities arising from the
2012 Olympics. From August 2008, Level 3[3]
will be part of the mainstream Train to Gain offer to employers
and training for a first Level 3 qualification will be part-subsidised
for all learners. The evaluation of the level 3 pilots, including
the London pilot for women, is expected to report in the next
few weeks. We are working with the LSC to ensure that the lessons
learned from the pilots and the evaluation are built into the
mainstream programme to ensure that Train to Gain supports women
learners to take advantage of opportunities to progress to Level
3. The forthcoming Equality Impact Assessment of Train to Gain
will help us think this through, as well as analysing further,
the even gender balance overall in the programme participation
figures.
Helping with childcare, though welcome, is not
the complete solution to the inaccessibility of some training
courses to those unable to undertake them full-time in normal
working hours. We are concerned that the Ofsted review of the
flexibility of training by adult education providers has only
recently been launched. We expect its findings as to best practice
to be acted upon with more urgency than has been shown in relation
to this problem so far. (Paragraph 19)
25. The Government remains committed to expanding
childcare provisions to enable parents to access education, training
and employment opportunities. The Ofsted report cited by the committee
will be published in April 2008. The Further Education (FE) sector
has a good record of meeting the individual needs of work-based
and college learners through flexibly delivered and personalised
provision. Developments in information and learning technology
increasingly support learning that can be accessed by learners
in their own time and outside of the classroom or workshop. DIUS
has introduced a responsibility on colleges to consult with learners
and potential learners to best meet their needs, and all FE providers
must now have a learner involvement strategy. The Government
believes that involving learners in all aspects of a provider's
activities will help ensure that learning better meets their needs.
DIUS receives regular first-hand feedback on provision through
the National Learner Panel. As FE becomes increasingly demand-led
through Train to Gain and Skills Accounts, providers are expected
to become more flexible still in how and when they deliver services,
for example developing further the provision of training on employers'
premises and within working hours.
We recognise that the Government needs to focus
funding if it is to achieve its aim of ensuring that 80% of the
population has Level 2 skills. However, it is a cause for regret
if colleges are having to abandon useful courses or approaches
to address under-representation of women in certain occupations.
We recommend that, if colleges produce evidence that they are
taking initiatives to deal with gender inequality, then the Minister
should consider providing additional funding or at least allow
them some discretion in the use of existing funding so that they
can develop these initiatives. After all, this would also benefit
those young people without Level 2 skills on whom the Government
is currently concentrating. (Paragraph 20)
26. Funding for adult participation through the
LSC will increase to £3.6 billion in 2010/11, a rise of 17%
compared to 2007/08. The additional investment will support significant
increases in participation and achievement required to deliver
the new 2011 skills PSA targets, including for Level 2.[4]
The Level 2 target is intended to ensure that all women and men
have the opportunity to achieve the basic foundation of skills
for employability.
27. Women of working age are more likely than
men to have their highest qualification below Level 2 (18.9%,
compared with 17% for men). The Government will therefore help
women more if we expand the provision of courses that equip them
with economically valuable qualifications and the skills that
employers want—which is what the targets, supported by qualifications
reform, do. And according to latest Labour Force Survey data,
the proportion of women in the workforce qualified to level 2
or above has grown by nearly 9 percentage points since 2001, compared
with growth of only 2.5 percentage points for men over the same
period. At the end of 2007, 75.2 per cent of economically active
adult females were qualified to Level 2 or higher—compared
with 74.1 per cent of males. However, not all investment is concentrated
on Level 2: over the Comprehensive Spending Review period the
Government has safeguarded around £1.5 billion each year
for adults to participate in a wide range of learning opportunities
below level 2, including learning within the Foundation Learning
Tier, personal and community development learning and Skills for
Life.
We believe that the new Commission for Equality
and Human Rights should investigate the reasons for the gender
pay gap among apprentices, and that the Low Pay Commission should
be asked to consider practical ways of rectifying the situation.
(Paragraph 23)
28. The Government welcomes the Committee's interest
in the apprenticeship programme and has already taken steps in
the area of apprentice pay. The Government has asked the Low Pay
Commission to review the current apprentice exemption from National
Minimum Wage this year. We expect their report early in 2009.
The Government has been actively monitoring apprenticeship pay
and, in April 2008, DIUS published the latest available information
in "Apprenticeship Pay: 2007 Survey of Earnings by Sector".
29. The Government has made the Equalities and
Human Rights Commission (EHRC) aware of this recommendation and
we understand the EHRC is considering whether to investigate
pay for apprentices.
Simply increasing the number of apprenticeships
will not, in itself, help women to better paid jobs if all that
happens is they continue to choose traditional types of work.
It is disappointing that women are less likely than men to complete
apprenticeships in the traditionally male-dominated sectors. In
the rush to increase the number of apprenticeships, the Government
must not lose sight of the need to promote greater equality through
this form of training. (Paragraph 25)
30. Government plans to expand the number and
range of Apprenticeships in England were set out in "World-class
Apprenticeships: Unlocking Talent, Building Skills for All"
(January 2008). These plans include a number of proposals
to increase the take-up and completion rates of apprenticeships, including
by learners who are currently under-represented in the programme. The
Government invited comments on these new proposals by
31 March 2008.
31. One of the ways we are addressing the Women
and Work Commission recommendations in relation to increasing
the number of women undertaking and completing apprenticeships
is working with the EHRC, the LSC and sector bodies to improve
information, broaden choice and explore more flexible Apprenticeship
learning opportunities e.g. by offering opportunities for non-stereotypical
"tasters" from the age of 14.
32. The LSC is funding up to 8,000 adult Apprenticeships
at a cost of £16.7 million in 2007/08 for priority groups,
including women or people from ethnic minorities seeking to enter
an atypical career, and adults working in sectors identified as
local or regional skills priorities.
33. The Young Apprenticeship programme for 14-16
year olds is improving young women's skills and employability.
Guidance has been provided for young women in particular,
their parents/guardians and schools and colleges to help shift
out-of-date images and concepts.
34. The Government is implementing a series of
initiatives to encourage young people to consider atypical career
choices when applying for apprenticeships. This includes advice
in schools, group training associations with a mandate to encourage
people to apply for apprenticeships which might be atypical for
them and a mentoring system for apprentices in situations in which
they might feel isolated due to differences in gender, ethnic
background or disability. A number of large employers and third
sector organisations have used related techniques to encourage
interest from under-represented groups of young people, and they
have been frequently successful.
Like the Women and Work Commission, we consider
that 'Women Like Us' provides an interesting and potentially very
useful model for involving social enterprise in giving careers
support and guidance to women and placing them in good quality
jobs with suitable hours. We support the Commission's recommendation
for pilots in areas round the country and urge further action
to promote such pilots, including through discussions with Regional
Development Agencies and local authorities. (Paragraph 28)
35. The Government, like the Committee, is interested
in the "Women Like Us" approach, and the GEO has already
had discussions with them about working with Regional Development
Agencies (RDAs).
36. DCLG is working with the London Development
Agency, the lead RDA on equality issues, and other RDAs to help
them to deliver equality outcomes through their work. Last year,
senior officials from DCLG met with equality and diversity leads
and Chief Executives from each RDA. They agreed a set of nine
priorities to help tackle inequalities. These included building
equality and diversity targets and monitoring into RDAs' mainstream
activity; and understanding and practically focusing RDAs' interventions
on barriers faced by specific groups.
37. RDAs are undertaking a self assessment based
on the nine equalities priorities identified at the seminar. RDAs
will shortly be reviewing the outcomes of the self-assessment.
Current work with RDAs includes the Women's Enterprise Task Force,
which was set up in 2006 to ensure that the environment for women's
enterprise improved and women's economic participation boosted.
In the Enterprise Strategy, published in March 2008, BERR announced
it would be working with RDAs to pilot Women's Business Centres
in four regions.
38. The GEO will work with Regional Ministers
to raise awareness of the importance of the work of RDAs and Government
Offices in delivering on the priorities identified by the Ministers
for Women.
Since our predecessors reported, there appears
to be wider recognition of the fact that there are insufficient
training opportunities for women in non-traditional occupations,
and measures are being taken to address this and to spread best
practice. However, we are concerned that neither the need to tackle
occupational segregation in general nor the specific problems
faced by older women have been taken fully into account in the
Government's priorities. The EOC emphasised the fact that because
the Government's Skills Strategy focussed on those without basic
qualifications, it excluded many women returners from support.
Arguing that accessing ways back into work through advice and
guidance, updating old skills or retraining in sectors where women
have traditionally been under-represented was a major challenge,
it alleged that this challenge was yet unmet through mainstream
government programmes. We agree. The drive for a large number
of training places, focused particularly on the younger and less
qualified, threatens to leave older and/or slightly better qualified
women behind. This is both unfair and imprudent, given that most
of those who will form the UK's 2020 workforce are already at
work and that a significant proportion of these are women. We
urge the Government to work with employers and trade unions to
make better use of the experience and skills within the existing
workforce by ensuring better training and development opportunities
for women, whether they work full-time or part-time. (Paragraph
29)
39. The Government welcomes the Committee's focus
on women returners and the employment of women in older age groups.
We have put in place a number of measures to support women returners
and help balance work and family life.
40. With finite resources at its disposal, the
Government must prioritise its support. Basic skills/Level 2 give
women and men a basic platform for employability that equips them
to pursue further learning and operate self-sufficiently in the
labour market, and this is why the Government makes this a particular
focus for its investment. A similar rationale for helping those
least able to help themselves directs the Trade Unions' approach
to learning for adults through Union Learning Representatives,
funded by DIUS and recognised as a success elsewhere in the Committee's
report.
41. Research shows that above Level 2 the returns
to individuals and employers grow significantly, compared with
the returns to Level 2 qualifications, so it is reasonable to
expect more investment to come from learners and employers themselves,
reflecting the benefits they receive, with less dependence on
Government. It should be noted that the absence of free tuition
(as for basic skills/Level 2) does not mean Government provides
no support at all for learning above these levels. On the contrary,
there is substantial investment in Level 3 programmes—over
£1.7 billion over the next three years for full Level 3 provision—with
learner support funding and advice and guidance available for
those who most need help.
42. The joint Department for Education and Skills/LSC
Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) of adult skills policies, analysed
by age, disability, gender and race, published in June 2007 after
extensive public consultation, suggested that overall the effect
on gender equality was positive. The EQIA however also acknowledged
that learning alone could not tackle long-standing labour-market
segregation and discrimination.
43. Women already form the majority of participants
in Train to Gain (as they do in free tuition for a first Level
2 qualification). The service is funded for literacy and numeracy
and a first full Level 2 but is not limited to those areas: it
can source the right course and support at every level and signposts
employers to a wide range of other business support activities.
The recent "Plan for Growth" details new measures
and flexibilities to ensure Train to Gain meets the needs
of all employers and employees, including additional public funding
for:
- 100% subsidy for people recruited
from priority unemployed groups needing retraining for second
Level 2 qualifications;
- in certain circumstances, a part subsidy
for people doing a second Level 2 or 3 programme;
- increased focus on improving leadership and management
skills within SMEs with the budget increased from £4 million
per annum to £30 million per annum;
- expansion of LSC's National Employer Service
with more dedicated account managers, and extension of skills
brokerage to help reach more SMEs; and
- sector specialisms built into the skills brokerage
service through closer SSC involvement.
44. Train to Gain funding will increase from
around £440 million in 2007/08 to over £1 billion in
2010/11. Skills Accounts will be a universal offer lasting a lifetime,
because the aim is to bring about long-term, generational change.
A key principle of Skills Accounts will be that learner choice
has a direct effect on provider funding, driving greater responsiveness
to learners' needs and demand. Public funds would still
flow, as now, direct from the LSC, but the money given to providers
will follow the choices made by the individual, giving individuals
maximum incentive to learn and providers the maximum incentive
to offer what learners need. We expect £500 million of adult
and vocational funding to be routed through Skills Accounts in
2010, and £1.5 billion by 2015.
45. Skills Accounts will work alongside the new
universal adult advancement and careers service which will help
guide the career choices of people considering new skills, moving
into a different industry or occupational area, moving jobs or
relocating or looking to re-enter the labour market, as well as
people receiving benefits. Advisers will provide comprehensive
information about all careers, including pay rates, the economic
value of particular qualifications and local demand for jobs.
Labour market information given by careers advisors will challenge
stereotypes and occupational segregation to help women to understand
the role, requirements and incomes of "non-traditional"
occupations and advisors will build awareness of opportunities
for flexible working patterns. Fully operational by 2010-11, the
new service will build on the success of existing services in
attracting and supporting women and will be subject to regular
evaluation and user surveys to monitor take-up by, and
impact on, women.
46. As a new Department, DIUS will shortly be
consulting publicly on its first Single Equality Scheme setting
out its achievements and forward priorities for FE and Skills,
Higher Education and Science and Innovation, drawing on material
including the Gender Equality Schemes of its legacy departments.
While our Report focuses on occupational segregation
and ways to break down some of the traditional barriers, we regard
it as equally important to encourage a better valuation of work
traditionally carried out predominantly by women if there is to
be progress in reducing the gender pay gap. In paragraph 13 above,
we have welcomed initiatives to encourage women to take on more
senior positions in traditional sectors. We note that the Secretary
of State acknowledged the need to ensure that the work traditionally
done by women, such as in the caring sector, was not undervalued,
and that she also emphasised the role of quality part-time work
in achieving an improvement to women's pay, using their skills
and experience more fully and raising their status at work. (Paragraph
30)
47. The Government remains committed to closing
the gender pay gap and we are adopting a range of approaches in
order to make this happen. We have introduced important legislative
changes. The National Minimum Wage (NMW) has significantly reduced
the gender pay gap at lower levels of the income distribution.
The NMW now stands at £5.52 per hour and will increase to
£5.73 in October 2008. Also the Government has extended employment
rights for part-time workers. These measures have benefited workers
in sectors like caring. We also introduced the right to request
flexible working for parents of young children and carers. The
success of these measures is being extended. The right to request
flexible working, for example, is being extended to parents of
older children and work is ongoing on the Equality Bill following
consultation in 2007.
48. In addition, the Government is committed
to ensuring that best practice is promoted among employers. This
includes through the projects supported by the Quality Part Time
Work Fund, referred to in recommendation 18, which directly address
the under-use of part-time workers' skills and experience.
There is a need for increased pay transparency
but, as our predecessors noted, the experience of equal pay audits
has been mixed. Some of the criticisms of them would be met if
an effective 'light touch' approach were developed. We were encouraged
by the description of the prototype 'light touch' check given
by the Secretary of State and recommend that the Government, the
CBI, the British Chamber of Commerce, Regional Development Agencies
and other representative bodies make strenuous efforts to publicise
this tool when it is launched generally, so that the use of it
swiftly becomes best practice among smaller businesses. (Paragraph
41)
49. The Government welcomes the support of the
committee for its approach to this issue and will continue to
work with a range of stakeholders to ensure employers have access
to the information they need to ensure equality issues are dealt
with effectively in the workplace. The GEO is currently piloting
its Gender Equality Checklist. It is designed to be suitable for
smaller businesses without large Human Resources departments.
It has been developed in partnership with the Trades Union Congress
(TUC), Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the EHRC, and
the Government will look to these organisations to help promote
take-up of this tool. The intention is to publish the tool on
the Business Link website, which is the Government's main business
facing website and has a high profile with small and medium sized
businesses.
Another important criticism, that equal pay checks
were of doubtful effectiveness in making companies take the issue
of occupational segregation more seriously, could also be met
if pay differences were regarded as a proxy for inequality more
generally and the form of the audit required employers to consider
wider questions such as why, for example, most women in their
organisation were employed in the lower grade jobs and most of
the managers were men. (Paragraph 42)
50. Equal pay checks are designed to help employers
with equal pay legislation and identify areas of concern. The
Government accepts it has a role to encourage employers to take
up good practice. For example, the Gender Equality Checklist,
referred to in recommendation 12, will cover a broad range of
workplace equality issues, including encouraging employers to
think about the numbers of women at different levels in their
organisation. It will also provide links to further sources of
information that the employer can use.
However useful equal pay reviews might be at uncovering
problems, in themselves they would not ensure that any problems
were tackled. We can see the attractions of the public sector
gender equality duty in this regard, with its requirements to
publish an action plan, report on progress, and take the actions
described in the plan in a specified period. The duty also is
not prescriptive about the ways to achieve the stated objectives:
it leaves decisions on means to the authority implementing the
duty. However, it is too early as yet to judge the success of
the duty, which came into force only in April. We recommend that
the Government evaluate its effectiveness in two years' time and,
if it has been successful, the Government should extend the duty
to the private sector. Certainly, if the pay gap continues to
decline at such a slow rate, the Government must look at such
further measures as the extension of the gender equality duty
and consider making pay audits mandatory. (Paragraph 43)
51. The Government shares the aim of ensuring
that further progress on closing the gender pay gap is achieved
and this commitment is expressed in the Equality PSA. The Gender
Duty is an innovative approach that will contribute to success
in this area. The response to recommendation 26 describes action
taken to ensure progress under the Gender Duty.
Although the Discrimination Law Review suggested
that there were disadvantages to the amendments to legislation
which have been proposed by our witnesses, the current law is
clearly not working well. There has been such a glut of equal
pay claims against local authority employers that neither they
nor the tribunal system can manage them; and the heavy involvement
of 'no win, no fee' lawyers in this area shows the potential for
litigation to spread into other public sector areas including
those which have conducted pay reviews, such as the NHS 'Agenda
for Change' programme, and through the private sector as well.
This can also make it difficult to negotiate agreements to incorporate
effective equal pay audits and may discourage employers from embarking
on pay structure reviews. More fundamentally, given the number
of claims, the law does not appear to be effective in preventing
discrimination in the first place. The Discrimination Law Review
failed to address these problems adequately. We therefore recommend
the Government to look again at the possibility of introducing
provisions to allow hypothetical comparators and representative
actions, and to simplify the law in relation to time limits for
bringing cases, remedies and defences for employers. This would
not reduce the difficulty of reaching a fair view of issues like
'equal value' in each case, but it would reduce some of the complexity
of the law as it currently stands. (Paragraph 49)
52. The Government is looking at how we should
incorporate the principle of equal pay into the Equality Bill
in the light of responses to the consultation.
We were particularly concerned that at present
there is no obligation on an employer who has lost an equal pay
case to ensure that other members of the workforce are being paid
appropriately. We recommend that employment tribunals are given
the power to order employers to conduct equal pay reviews and
act upon the findings. (Paragraph 50)
53. The Government is examining the case for
employment tribunals to make recommendations which would benefit
the wider workforce in the light of responses to the consultation.
On the immediate problem faced by local authorities,
we recommend that the Government should examine the role played
by some 'no win, no fee' lawyers in stimulating claims which further
complicate the situation and are sometimes contrary to the best
interests of the claimant. (Paragraph 51)
54. The Government is aware of concerns about
the practices of some solicitors working on a "no win, no
fee" basis in relation to equal pay cases. Solicitors are
required to ensure clients' protection and to act in the best
interest of their clients at all times. The Solicitors Regulation
Authority (SRA) has a comprehensive regulatory framework for solicitors'
conduct including the regulation of agreements between solicitors
and their clients. The MoJ consulted the SRA on the potential
breach of various elements of the Code of Conduct by solicitors
operating in this area. The SRA would consider any evidence presented
to them of specific breaches of the solicitor's code of conduct.
The MoJ is following this up.
55. In 2007-08 Central Government issued £500
million of equal pay capitalisation directions to 46 authorities
to speed up the delivery of equal pay. John Healey, Minister
for Local Government, has recently announced plans for a further
round of equal pay capitalisation for local government in 2008-09;
guidance has been issued to authorities and they have until the
end of May to apply. The guidance makes it clear that capitalisation
directions for equal pay costs in local government cannot be used
to fund direct payments to any solicitors, whether operating on
a "no win, no fee" basis or otherwise.
We consider that the Quality Part Time Work Initiative
has been under-funded, given the importance of quality part-time
work in relation to both reducing occupational segregation and
tackling the worse, and more obstinately static, gender pay gap
which is that in relation to women's hourly pay for part-time
work. We recommend that the Government increase the funding to
the initial target of £5 million, and seek the help of the
CBI, TUC and similar organisations in proposing initiatives among
companies which would otherwise be unaware of or reluctant to
try best practice. (Paragraph 54)
56. The Government has been pleased to support
the innovative Quality Part-Time Work Fund which is currently
funding 12 projects, covering a diverse list of organisations.
The majority of the projects are ending in April 2008 although
some continue until November. The Government will be reviewing
the projects in the course of this year and assessing the elements
of schemes that made the most difference. It is too early to consider
extending the programme before the evidence is available. The
Government will consider the case for further investment in this
or a similar programme once it has the information available from
the review of the present fund.
The Government said in April 2007 that it will
continue to consider the case for extending the right to request
flexible working to the parents of older children, taking into
account the impact of the extension to carers, and working with
business." We agree that the right should be extended in
consultation with employers and their representatives; but we
believe that while the Government's thinking appears to be limited
to parents and carers, this ignores the wider changes in work
which mean that more people will change career, have portmanteau
careers or wish to work part time at the beginning or end of their
working lives, and it also risks leaving flexible working in a
(perceived if not actual) ghetto as ' a woman's problem' and a
sign of a lack of commitment among nearly half the workforce.
We recommend the Government consider a gradual extension of the
right to request flexible working to the whole workforce. (Paragraph
58)
57. The Government believes that the success
of the right to request with employers has been the targeted approach
we have taken with the legislation since its introduction—first
to parents of young and disabled children in April 2003 and then
to carers of adults in April 2007.
58. When the Prime Minister announced on 6 November
2007 that the Government had decided to extend the scope of the
law still further—to parents of older children—he
signalled the Government's intention to continue with the targeted
approach. Imelda Walsh, HR Director of J Sainsbury plc, is currently
leading an independent review to consider the upper age that should
apply for this purpose, and is expected to make her recommendation
in the spring of 2008.
59. As for extending the scope of the law to
all employees, the Government does not take a blanket approach
to making regulation. We always consider whether there is a clear
case for legislation and are mindful of the impact on business.
The success of the law so far has been due to the widespread
support of employers, and we must be careful not to jeopardise
this.
60. The Government believes that it is important
that employers and employees know what their rights and obligations
are in relation to the right to request flexible working. In the
course of 2008, Government intends to promote understanding of
this right with an awareness raising campaign.
In relation to Amicus's suggestion that employees
should be given the right to challenge any refusal by their employer
to grant a request for flexible working at an employment tribunal,
we share our predecessors' view that as yet this has not proved
necessary as there has been no evidence of widespread refusal
by employers to agree to requests. However, the Government should
keep the situation under review. (Paragraph 59)
61. The right to request flexible working is
widely acknowledged as a success with both employees and employers,
with four out of five requests accepted. Much of that success
is due to the light-touch, targeted nature of the legislation,
and there is no evidence to suggest that the procedural requirements
of the law need to be re-examined. The Government is nevertheless
aware of the need to keep the position under review.
There are good examples of successful businesswomen
who can act as role models. However, progress is patchy and it
will take some time before the number of these pioneers increases
to the sort of critical mass which makes women top managers and
entrepreneurs seem commonplace rather than exceptional in the
UK. (Paragraph 61)
62. The Government recognises the value of female
role models in inspiring and encouraging others. In its recent
Enterprise Strategy, BERR proposed the coordination of a national
mentoring network for women in business. This network will signpost
to existing mentoring programmes and offer both face-to-face and
web-based mentoring where there is no existing provision.
There is clearly a need for more training and
advice to be made available to managers to give them the ability
and confidence to adopt new ways of working and of nurturing talent
in order to enable their employees to use their skills, to their
own benefit as well as that of the company. We support the CBI's
suggestion that the CEHR should make a priority of issuing guidance
on what types of actions would be considered discriminatory and
what could be seen as positive action. (Paragraph 65)
63. The EHRC agrees that it is important to share
good practice. Employers are more likely to take action when they
see best practice examples from other employers/business addressing
equality and diversity issues, particularly where the business
case for action is clear.
64. This is included in the programme of work
planned as part of the update of the equal pay review kit and
the dissemination of the findings of the survey of employers carrying
out equal pay reviews. Best practice will be promoted through
the EHRC's website, through partnership working with leading law
firms, through the TUC, and through the Advisory, Conciliation
and Arbitration Service (ACAS).
65. In 2008/09 the EHRC is also planning to develop
website guidance around good practice for employers. Initially,
this will be in relation to the transformation of work agenda
(work life balance, flexibility, new ways of working for the 21st
century etc)—building on work started by the Equal Opportunities
Commission—as this is a key priority area for the EHRC.
However, they hope to broaden out this website guidance to cover
culture and practice around equality and diversity across all
the strands.
66. EHRC is currently working with CBI and TUC
on the development of a practical good practice guide for employers
on diversity which will look at all the equality strands and a
range of employment issues using case study examples. This should
be available in summer 2008.
Given the difficulty of bringing about cultural
change, which requires the joint efforts of both trade unions
and management, and the success of the union learning representatives,
we, are disappointed that the Government's support for union equality
representatives appears lukewarm (Paragraph 67)
67. Government recognises the positive role which
Trade Union equality representatives can play and has taken concrete
steps to support their development. Thirteen projects concerning
equality representatives have received funding from the Union
Modernisation Fund (UMF). In total, trade unions will receive
about £1 million of UMF assistance to run these projects.
Equality representatives are a new type of workplace representative
and the numbers are currently low. It is therefore too soon to
assign specific time off rights to them. Government took the
same measured approach before legislating for union learning representatives.
68. The Government is hosting an event for Trade
Union equality representatives in early summer 2008 which will
provide an opportunity for experience so far to be shared.
We welcome the examples our witnesses gave of
close working and co-operation in spreading good practice between
trade unions and employers organisations. We hope that they will
continue to be able to build on this now that the immediate flurry
of activity after publication of the Women and Work Commission's
report has subsided. (Paragraph 69)
69. Government encourages employers and trade
unions to work in partnership to address workplace issues, including
the adaptation of working life to reflect the growing diversity
of the workforce.
We were told of numerous imaginative and practical
initiatives to address gender inequality in the workplace, both
within and outside government programmes. However, we are concerned
that many of the organisations taking part in government programmes
are either companies which have already shown leadership in this
area or are in the broader public sector, such as Royal Mail and
universities. We hope that best practice will be taken up more
widely and recommend the Government, via the Commission for Equality
and Human Rights and the department that has the central role
in communicating with business, the Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform, to make spreading best practice in this
area a priority. We would like to see the spread of best practice
through the economy adopted as one of the actions both the CEHR
and BERR pledge themselves to take under the public sector equality
duty. (Paragraph 70)
70. BERR is committed to the continuous improvement
of research, evidence and statistics on underrepresented groups
in business by gender, ethnicity and age. BERR will also work
with and encourage the RDAs to understand how best to approach
businesses and facilitate the sharing of best practice.
71. The EHRC have provided a joint response to
this recommendation with their response to recommendation 22.
72. Other work on spreading best practice is
underway through the GEO. The Exemplar Employers project, the
report of which has been published in March 2008, and the Gender
Equality Checklist both contribute to and promote best practice.
It appears from our short survey that departments
are making progress in implementation of the Gender Equality Duty,
and that this is leading to actions to promote equality rather
than just the establishment of formal processes. However, it is
obvious that the pursuit of gender equality through positive action
(rather than merely the avoidance of discrimination) is a new
departure for some departments, and they appear to find it easier
to adopt appropriate policies for their own employees than to
examine the effect of their policies on their clients. There are
some fine examples of best practice, which have yet to spread.
We look to the Secretary of State for Equality to maintain pressure
on all departments to catch up with the best. The three-yearly
review of the Schemes provides a good opportunity to do so. (Paragraph
76)
73. The Government is supportive of attempts
to share best practice across departments and is investigating
ways in which this can best be encouraged, before the opportunity
provided by the three-year review of schemes in 2010.
74. At a national level, the Government continues
to work on key workforce challenges for the UK's public services
through the Public Services Forum (PSF).[5] In
March 2008, the PSF agreed to establish a Task Group on Diversity
and Equality to pursue specific actions, with a sharp focus on
delivering practical guidance and tools to support public service
employers and their delivery partners. Amongst its activities,
the Task Group will identify best practice and articulate
learning points on single equality schemes and will consider its
role in giving impetus to the Women and Work Commission's action
plan on supporting women in the workplace. The Task Group
will make recommendations in October 2008 about what employers,
trade unions and delivery partners can practically do to facilitate
and deliver progress.
75. The Civil Service is taking a number of steps
to ensure that it represents the diversity of the society it serves. A
diverse workforce, made up of individuals with different
experiences and backgrounds, contributes to the Civil
Service developing policies with an understanding of the
impact that those policies will have on our clients.
The 10 Point Plan for a diverse civil service was launched in
2005 and departments have developed their own delivery plans under
this. In addition the Diversity Champions Network (DCN) was set
up in 2004 and is responsible for promoting and improving diversity
across Civil Service departments and agencies. The DCN is
made up of a Board level representative from all main departments
who champions diversity and equality within their organisations.
The champions also help to spread departmental best practice across
the Civil Service. At the meeting of the DCN in November 2007,
the departmental diversity champions started taking action to
plan for a diversity strategy to follow the 10 Point Plan. The
new strategy will be developed and launched in 2008.
It would be regrettable if some of the useful
actions undertaken to comply with the public sector Gender Equality
Duty were lost as a result of a 'tidying-up' process. There is
an argument for introducing a consistent approach to the various
equality duties, and the focus of the gender duty on outcomes
is the appropriate model. However, this does not mean that there
has to be a single equality duty: the barriers faced by different
groups vary, as do the solutions which need to be applied. Legislative
neatness should not take priority over a flexible approach. (Paragraph
78)
76. As part of the consultation, "A Framework
for Fairness", the Government consulted on proposals for
bringing together the existing public sector duties into a single
duty. The Government is currently considering responses to the
consultation.
We consider that the advice given by the Office
of Government Commerce in its guidance, Social issues in purchasing,
is too timid. There appears to be greater scope for public bodies
to require of their suppliers not only simple compliance with
antidiscrimination legislation, as recommended now, but also demonstration
of active commitment to equality principles in the recruitment,
terms and conditions of staff. Indeed, we believe that if they
do not, public bodies could be challenged as being in breach of
their duty to promote gender equality. We accept that it may be
easier for larger than smaller companies and for those supplying
services rather than goods, to show how they are promoting gender
equality, but procurement guidelines already make such distinctions
between what it is reasonable to expect of different types of
firm. We urge the OGC to review its guidance accordingly. (Paragraph
84)
77. The Government recognises the role that public
procurement can play to help deliver improvements in equality.
78. The OGC acknowledges the Committee's conclusions
both in this report and the Committee's previous report, "The
Future of UK Manufacturing: Public Procurement", that
OGC should review its guidance on addressing social issues in
procurement. Government has been examining how it can
give departments clearer and more succinct messages on when and
how they can incorporate social issues, including equality in
the procurement process, whilst remaining within the EU procurement
rules and ensuring value for money.
79. OGC intends to publish a short
practical guide "Buy and Make a Difference",
with various examples and case studies from across the public
sector, to give departments a clear steer on how they can legitimately
address social issues such as equality in the procurement process,
while adhering to the EU procurement rules and the imperative
of achieving value for money. Additionally, Government is looking
to produce similar practical guidance specifically on equality
issues (across all the equality strands).
80. These and other practical guides will be
included, as they are developed, in OGC's new Procurement Policy
and Standards Framework (PPSF), which sets out procurement policy,
standards and guidance for government procurers.
If, for the sake of certainty, the Government
concludes it is necessary to introduce a statutory duty to promote
equalities through procurement, the proposed Equality Bill appears
to be a good opportunity to do so. (Paragraph 85)
81. As part of the consultation "A Framework
for Fairness", Government sought views on what could be included
in practical guidance on how public sector procurement can be
used to achieve equality outcomes in the delivery of public services
by the private sector, while ensuring that the guidance works
well for business. The Government is currently considering the
responses received to the consultation and will publish our response
in due course.
In common with a number of our witnesses, we were
disappointed that the Government's initial response to the report
of the Women and Work Commission— the Action Plan published
in September 2006—failed to commit the Government to providing
the money necessary to implement the recommendations, lacked any
timetable (however aspirational) by which progress could be judged,
and generally gave the appearance of only a half-hearted acceptance
of the outcome of the Commission. The one year on report showed
that a substantial number of initiatives were in hand, some of
which pre-dated the Commission's report, and greater progress
was being made than one might have feared from the initial response.
However, there was still the appearance of a lack of co-ordination
and direction: it was not clear whether the then Minister for
Women was able, amidst her other tasks, to maintain oversight
of this complex and cross-cutting area. We are reassured by the
current Secretary of State for Equality's obvious commitment to
this policy and infer from her evidence to us that she intends
not only to co-ordinate the efforts of her colleagues but also
to keep up pressure on them to take into consideration and address
gender equality issues in all their policies and procedures, in
relation to both their clients and their employees. To ensure
that this commitment is translated into effective practice, we
recommend that all Select Committees should see monitoring in
this area as being an important part of their remit and that the
relevant Select Committee should continue to press the Secretary
of State for Equality to give regular reports on progress. (Paragraph
92)
82. The Government welcomes the comments of the
Committee regarding progress made on the Women and Work Commission
agenda. The Minister for Women and Equality is pleased to have
the opportunity to confirm to the Committee her strong and continued
commitment to co-ordinating and promoting this work within Government.
This response contains evidence of the progress that has been
made on the recommendations and that the Government continues
to build on this work. The number of departments involved in this
response gives an indication of the wide range of ongoing work
and its importance across Government.
83. By setting itself the PSA target of reducing
the gender pay gap, the Government has committed itself to continued
monitoring and reporting on progress. The work of the Women and
Work Commission has provided a strong focus around which the work
of Government has been coordinated. It is the intention of Government
that future work will build on the action already taken following
the Commission's recommendations. The GEO is committed to provide
regular updates on progress and performance and to report regularly
to the Communities and Local Government Committee, which monitors
its work, and to any other committee that Parliament decides is
appropriate in order to effectively monitor this work.
15 May 2008
1 Second report from the Business and Enterprise Committee,
Session 2007-08, Jobs for the Girls: Two Years On,
HC 291 Back
2
All paragraphs in bold type are quotations from the committee's
report. Back
3
Level 3 qualifications include A-levels and equivalent qualifications. Back
4
Level 2 skills are equivalent to grades A*-C at GCSE. Back
5
This is a national forum that brings together public service employers,
trade unions and delivery partners. The Forum is currently chaired
by Tom Watson MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office Back
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