Brexit: Women in the Workplace

Debate between Baroness Hussein-Ece and Lord Henley

Tuesday 16th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, one eminent lawyer has made that statement, but not all eminent lawyers agree with it. We are fully signed up to human rights and will continue to be fully signed up to all other aspects of human rights. Leaving the EU does not make any difference in this matter.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, the Minister mentioned the right to flexible working, but there is growing evidence that women who ask their employers for flexible working hours—particularly if they are older women, caring for elderly relatives or younger women trying to juggle work with caring for children—are often faced with discrimination, being ostracised or not being promoted. Is any work being done to look at this in a bit more detail and at why these women face such discrimination?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, the Government and in particular the Prime Minister are fully committed to equality in this area. These are matters that we can resolve for ourselves. As I said, we already meet very high standards, which are higher than in the EU. Where our existing law is not working, these matters can be looked at and we hope that bodies such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission will look at them: it is the regulatory body in this area. I hope that appropriate action will be taken if that is the case—but, if necessary, it is also something that the Government can pursue themselves.

Parental Leave: Statutory Pay

Debate between Baroness Hussein-Ece and Lord Henley

Tuesday 9th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I do not recall what the noble Lord asks me to recall but I can say that this scheme was introduced by this Government—or, rather, by the previous, coalition Government. It is working reasonably well but with a very low take-up. I said in earlier answers that we obviously want to look at that to see whether it can be improved so that it can benefit more people and more couples.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)]

My Lords, until the Government get to grips with shared parental leave, perhaps they can take a look at the equal pay situation between men and women, which is still woefully inadequate. Will the Minister have a look at, say, Iceland, which is also led by a female Prime Minister? She has enshrined in law equal pay for men and women in the public and private sectors.

Police: Racism

Debate between Baroness Hussein-Ece and Lord Henley

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Dear, for emphasising the importance with which we see the role of leadership within the police force in dealing with these matters and getting the culture right. I hope that will continue. As regards his second point about Winsor, I agree with him on that and we will pursue it. However, I believe that a degree more consultation is needed, and we will certainly do that in due course.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords, is not the failure to deal with incidents of racism, particularly in the Metropolitan Police, a stain on our tolerant civilised society? Is it not further in stark contrast to the case of Liam Stacey, the student who was jailed for 56 days for posting offensive comments on Twitter after the collapse of the footballer Fabrice Muamba? What urgent action is being taken to restore trust between the police and the communities, and to stamp out the evil scourge of racism that still exists in certain sections of the force?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am afraid that I do not agree with my noble friend that there is a failure on this occasion. What has happened is that the police themselves have recognised that there is a problem. It was the police officers themselves who raised these allegations and are dealing with them. That is the encouraging sign, indicating that there is not the institutional racism that has been alleged existed in the Met in the past. I am very grateful therefore that that is happening and that those matters are being dealt with.

Police: Custody

Debate between Baroness Hussein-Ece and Lord Henley

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, one has to accept that the figures are not exactly proportionate; neither are the figures cited by the noble Lord. They are not proportionate to the population as a whole. Similarly, they would not be proportionate by age profile, gender or any other measure. Having said that, we are very keen that the criminal justice system should be neutral in these matters as far as possible, and I hope that it is. However, there is scope for others to undertake more in-depth analysis of why that should be. I cannot comment on the figures that the noble Lord has given me but, as I said, arrests are broadly, although not quite, proportionate. They are disproportionate in many other ways, depending on how one looks at them.

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords, at last week’s excellent Scarman lecture, the Deputy Prime Minister highlighted that there are more than 400 more young black British men in prison than at the Russell group universities. Does the Minister share my concern that, with the vast majority of young black people unemployed, this is an indictment of years of failure to tackle poor education, employment and opportunities for young black men in our society? What action is being taken to address this?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I accept my noble friend’s point and share her concerns on these matters. On policing, for which the Home Office is responsible, we are committed to delivering a police service that promotes equality, does not discriminate against anyone because of their race and is effective in rooting out and tackling racism. Where there are disproportionate numbers in one group as opposed to another, that invites further research. That is something we should do. However, at this stage I would not want to comment on why there are, as my noble friend puts it, more black people in prison than there are at the Russell group universities.