Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Kirsty Blackman Excerpts
Wednesday 28th January 2026

(1 day, 8 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Seema Malhotra Portrait Seema Malhotra
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My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. The race equality engagement group is engaging with minority communities across the country to tackle inequality. We are committed to our manifesto commitment and to making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority people. We are also introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for large employers. Last year, we published a call for evidence on equality policy, which closed last summer. We are working to analyse the responses and will update the House on our plans soon.

Kirsty Blackman Portrait Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)
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It is 316 days since the Minister announced that consultation, and it is 560 days since the King’s Speech when the draft legislation was announced. The Minister has made it clear that she expects the draft Bill to be published during this Session. Please will she update us on whether that is still her promise and when we can expect to see that draft Bill to reduce and remove the ethnicity pay gap that people are struggling with?

Seema Malhotra Portrait Seema Malhotra
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As I have highlighted, we are continuing to move forward with our plans. We published the call for evidence and are analysing the responses. We will update the House on our plans soon.