Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that public contracts are not awarded to companies that blacklist workers.

Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

This Government is committed to ensuring public procurement supports British jobs and industry. Under the exclusion regime in the Procurement Act 2023, contracting authorities may exclude suppliers for blacklisting offences. The exclusion regime came into force in February this year and can be applied, for example, on the grounds of professional misconduct.

Those suppliers may also be added to a central debarment list by the Cabinet Office. This Government will not hesitate to make use of the full range of powers it has where there is evidence of wrongdoing having taken place.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to support women in the workplace with flexible working.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Flexible working can make work more inclusive for those facing barriers to staying in and getting on at work, including women navigating parenthood, caring responsibilities, health conditions, and other personal circumstances.

We are changing legislation through the Employment Rights Bill to make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted.

Where employers do reject a request, they will be required to explain the basis for their decision.

We also intend to run a public consultation in early 2026 on a new process for employers planning to reject a request to prompt dialogue about what types of flexible working might be feasible.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to ensure employers are taking a proactive and preventative approach to protecting their employees from workplace sexual harassment.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

On 26 October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment to the Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force. This inserted a new section 40A into the Equality Act 2010 which requires employers to anticipate the risk of sexual harassment occurring and take steps to prevent it. The Equality and Human Rights Commission published updated guidance to support employers with the changes.

We are also further strengthening protections against harassment by introducing three amendments to the Equality Act 2010 through the Employment Rights Bill. These will:

• require employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees;
• introduce an obligation on employers not to permit the harassment of their employees by third parties; and
• introduce a power to enable regulations to specify steps that are to be regarded as “reasonable”, to determine whether an employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment.

Employers will be provided with clear guidance in advance of the new legislation coming into force. This will ensure that they are fully supported in complying with the changes.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what measures the Government is taking to ensure that employers are supporting women managing menopause in the workplace.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We know that support in the workplace during the menopause can be crucial. That is why we will require large employers to detail the steps they are taking to support their staff during the menopause as part of an action plan. These will be introduced on a voluntary basis from April 2026, before becoming mandatory in spring 2027.

Furthermore, we will publish guidance for small and medium employers on the measures they should consider to enable women to better manage their symptoms, including: uniform and temperature; flexible working; and, recording menopause-related leave and absence.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's plan entitled Cervical cancer elimination by 2040 – plan for England, published on 28 March 2025, if his Department will set out (a) who is responsible for each of the actions in that plan, (b) when those actions will be delivered by and (c) what the metrics are for success.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to improving vaccine uptake and access across all immunisation programmes by exploring new and innovative delivery models, including expanding routes such as community pharmacies, as set out in the NHS Vaccination Strategy and the 10-Year Health Plan for England.

In June, the UK National Screening Committee, which advises ministers on all aspects of screening, recommended a human papilloma virus (HPV) self-sampling option to women and people with a cervix who never or rarely attend routine cervical screening appointments. From early in 2026, they will receive home testing kits if they have not responded to a cervical screening invitation for a period of time. This will help tackle deeply entrenched barriers that keep some away from life-saving screening.

The World Health Organisation’s cervical cancer elimination targets will be used as the basis for ongoing monitoring, along with the regular assessment of cervical cancer rates.

NHS England will be monitoring and evaluating the success of all the individual activities included within its elimination plan, as well as new initiatives as they are developed and implemented.

Independent Office for Police Conduct findings on Norman Bettison

Thanking postal workers