International Women’s Day

Debate between Maria Miller and Jeremy Lefroy

Thursday 5th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

As my right hon. Friend says, the Government have made real progress in not only giving more women access to child care, but helping women on lower incomes, as well as women of pensionable age. I am not suggesting to the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) that all the problems have been solved, but I think she would want to join me in ensuring that praise is given when it is due.

As I said at the beginning, I want to focus on both the workplace and this place. On a day like this, we should never forget what our forebears did to ensure that we would all be here as women Members of Parliament. There is also much to celebrate in the country more widely in respect of the role of women in our society. Over the past year, we have seen the appointment of the first woman bishop, the first female president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and—this is of particular interest to me—the first female Formula 1 driver, Susie Wolff. Many more women are breaking through and providing role models for us all, which can help to change attitudes and, importantly, raise aspirations.

Let me add one more name to that list: Fiona Woolf. I think that she deserves a particular mention. Although she was not the first female Lord Mayor of London, I believe that she did more than any other Lord Mayor to tackle the issue of gender equality in business, championing women and their contribution to the City of London, and taking that further with the City’s first Pride dinner in celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender City workers. I think we should put on record our thanks to her for all she did in that role.

I shall now focus on the role of work in women’s lives, knowing full well that other colleagues will pick up the other vital threads. Last week the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, wrote:

“In too many countries, too many legal restrictions conspire against women to be economically active”,

yet we know that the right to work is fundamental to the story of women’s equality. Christine Lagarde was prompted to say that by an IMF report which found that, despite the progress made on gender, almost 90% of countries surveyed still had legal restrictions based on gender that can stop women having the same opportunities to work as men.

While progress has been made, we should start this debate in the full knowledge that for many of our sisters around the world progress can be almost impossible to see. That is why the work of my right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary is so critical in supporting our aims.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her speech and on this debate. Will she commend the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash) in bringing forward his gender equality Bill for international development? It is absolutely critical that our international development programme, which our right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary so ably leads, ensures that gender equality is embedded in everything it does.

[Maria Miller]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to remind me of that important Bill, because through such legislation we can ensure that Britain continues to lead the way, as we are doing in our Government policy, prioritising women and girls in overseas work, helping more than 2 million women overseas to get jobs and over 5 million girls to attend school. That sort of leadership can make a real difference.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Maria Miller and Jeremy Lefroy

Thursday 5th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

7. What progress her Department has made on the roll-out of broadband to rural communities; and if she will make a statement.

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Maria Miller)]

Thirty-eight local broadband contracts have now been signed under our rural broadband programme, representing over 95% of the total project funding allocations. Ten projects have already provided their first superfast broadband connections and delivery is now moving ahead across the country.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

My constituents in Brocton and other villages, especially those who work from home or run businesses there, are looking forward to faster broadband speeds. What assessment has my right hon. Friend made of the benefits of superfast broadband in rural areas?

[Maria Miller]

There is an enormous amount of evidence of the economic advantages in not just rural areas but across the country of faster broadband, and that is why the Government are putting in place a programme that will see more than £1 billion-worth of investment going into this vital infrastructure.

Equal Marriage Consultation

Debate between Maria Miller and Jeremy Lefroy

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

The hon. Gentleman will know that there were more than 200,000 responses to the consultation, and that people outside the United Kingdom were given an opportunity to participate. We collected all the information and examined it in detail, and it helped us to think about how, not whether, we should implement the proposals. That is what I ask my hon. Friend to focus on.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Can my right hon. Friend unequivocally guarantee freedom of conscience and speech to my constituents, at work and elsewhere, allowing them to disagree publicly with the redefinition of marriage without sanction by their employers?

[Maria Miller]

As I said earlier, a case involving an individual who articulated a view about equal civil marriage has already gone to court. I think that the courts have upheld the view that individuals are entitled to their private views, and that their jobs can be safeguarded on those grounds.

Employment Support

Debate between Maria Miller and Jeremy Lefroy

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

We are going into a 90-day consultation on phase 1 factories. If individuals want to come forward because they feel that there are opportunities to reduce the level of redundancies, Remploy would obviously be pleased to look at them.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

What conversations is my hon. Friend having with employers about increasing employment opportunities for disabled people?

[Maria Miller]

I am happy to reassure my hon. Friend that we have had extensive conversations with the Employers Forum on Disabilities, which is going to work closely with us on the employment support package that we are putting together for the individuals affected, particularly making sure that, through its first shot scheme, disabled people can get those interviews and get in front of employers, which can be so important in securing jobs.

Welfare Reform Bill

Debate between Maria Miller and Jeremy Lefroy

Wednesday 1st February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Briefly, I want to make three points about under-occupancy and disabled people. First, I welcome the Minister’s announcement of funds to ensure that disabled people and other special cases are given the help that they need in transition. The other points that I want to make both arise from a constituent’s coming to see me. This particular family has four members, with two disabled people within it, and it needs four rooms. From the outside, someone might say that parents and two children need two or three rooms, which would give them one spare room. Absolutely not: in this case, every single room was needed, and the family was concerned that under the legislation they would be told that they had a spare room and be forced to move. I would like some reassurance on that point—that where people need all the rooms because of disability, certain rooms will not be considered spare, even if the family being of such a size might otherwise justify that decision.

[Maria Miller]

I can reassure my hon. Friend that if a disabled person has the need for an overnight carer, additional rooms can be allocated. Indeed, if there are disabled people in the house who require rooms, there will be clear support there for them to be able to have those rooms.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

I thank the Minister for that reassurance. On my second point, as hon. and right hon. Members know, many homes have had thousands of pounds spent on adaptations, and rightly so, for disabled people. It would not make a great deal of sense to ask people to move from a home that had had such adaptations into another home, where making such adaptations would cost plenty of money. Also, in the first home, the adaptations might have to be removed. Again, I ask for reassurance that common sense will prevail.

Women and Equalities

Debate between Maria Miller and Jeremy Lefroy

Monday 6th September 2010 Ministerial Corrections

[Jeremy Lefroy]

10. To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities if she will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on proposals to change the access to work programme to increase opportunities for disabled people to find employment.

[Official Report, 26 July 2010, Vol. 514, c. 610W.]

Letter of correction from Maria Miller:

Errors have been identified in the response given to the hon. Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison) and the hon. Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) on 26 July 2010. The words ‘The Government Equalities Office is’ in the second paragraph should be replaced with ‘We are’.

The answer given was as follows:

[Maria Miller]

[holding answer 22 July 2010]: I have been asked to reply.

The Government are committed to ensuring disabled people are given the support they need to get a job and remain in employment.

The coalition agreement made a commitment on Access to Work. The Government Equalities Office is developing plans for delivering this commitment and further details will be announced in due course.

The correct answer should have been: