Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate the Government has made of the number of women who could be experiencing discrimination at work whilst (a) pregnant, (b) on maternity leave and (c) returning from maternity leave; and what plans the Government has to regularly update those figures.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
In 2016 EHRC published the findings of a substantial research programme (commissioned jointly with the then Department for Business Innovation and Skills) based on interviews with 3,034 employers and 3,254 mothers. This found that around one in nine mothers reported that they were either dismissed; made compulsorily redundant, where others in their workplace were not; or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave their job.
The next estimate will be in 2020 to allow time for the current package of interventions to take effect. ln the interim Government will monitor others’ findings (such as the recent EHRC poll on employer attitudes) for any signs that the interventions are starting to have an impact or of changes in employers’ practices.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page eight of the the Government response to Women and Equality Select Committee Report on Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination, published in January 2017, what progress is being made to consider and bring forward proposals to ensure that employment protections are sufficient for those who are pregnant or returning from maternity leave.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Government was responding to a recommendation about protection from redundancy. In the response to the Matthew Taylor Review of modern working practices, the Government committed to review the legislation relating to redundancy protection and consider whether this is sufficient. This work is underway.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of maternity discrimination that have been taken to Employment Tribunals in each of the past five years.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The number of cases of maternity discrimination taken to employment tribunals can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. The data for the last five years is as follows:
Number of receipts (claims):
Financial Year Suffer a detriment/unfair dismissal maternity
Number of disposals (cases closed):
Financial Year Suffer a detriment/unfair dismissal maternity
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of Employment Tribunal cases that have successfully been brought beyond the three-month court time limit.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Government has figures available for the first quarter. Over that period, 21 cases were received out of time citing pregnancy/maternity as the reason. All of these cases were accepted.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate the Government has made of the number of women who could be experiencing discrimination at work whilst (a) pregnant, (b) on maternity leave and (c) returning from maternity leave; and what plans the Government has to regularly update those figures.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
In 2016 EHRC published the findings of a substantial research programme (commissioned jointly with the then Department for Business Innovation and Skills) based on interviews with 3,034 employers and 3,254 mothers. This found that around one in nine mothers reported that they were either dismissed; made compulsorily redundant, where others in their workplace were not; or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave their job.
The next estimate will be in 2020 to allow time for the current package of interventions to take effect. ln the interim Government will monitor others’ findings (such as the recent EHRC poll on employer attitudes) for any signs that the interventions are starting to have an impact or of changes in employers’ practices.