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 Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of reclassifying the offence of posting explicit or sexual images online without permission as a sex offence; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The offence at Section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 2015 criminalises the disclosure of private sexual photographs or films without the consent of an individual who appears in them and with the intent to cause that individual distress.
Such behaviour is a terrible abuse of trust which can leave victims feeling humiliated and degraded.
I am glad to see people are being prosecuted under this new offence which carries a maximum sentence of two years behind bars.
At the time the offence was brought in it was deliberately designed to strengthen existing law by targeting the malicious non-consensual sharing of private sexual images, a motive more akin to the offence of blackmail. This decision was taken after consultation with victims who strongly supported the focus on the malicious nature of this behaviour.
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 Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the extent to which non-disclosure agreements are being used to conceal actions that are against civil or criminal law.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Non-disclosure agreements are used in a wide range of commercial and non-commercial situations. They do not override the criminal law. I would encourage anyone who believes that a criminal offence has been committed to report the matter to the police.
In view of concerns about non-disclosure agreements the Government has committed to look at the structures around them and the evidence that is coming forward about how they are being used.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the human rights of opposition group members in Cameroon.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Our High Commission in Cameroon meets regularly with opposition groups to discuss the human rights challenges facing the country. We are monitoring the trial of Anglophone protesters at the military tribunal in Yaoundé very closely and lobbied the government to resolve issues raised by recent protests through inclusive dialogue.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the average time was of the rise of the House on each day of the week in parliamentary Session 2016-17.
Answered by Tom Brake
The average time of the rise of the House on each day during the 2016–17 session are as follows:
Monday: 9.57pm[1]
Tuesday: 7.24pm
Wednesday: 7.31pm
Thursday: 5.16pm
Friday: 2.57pm
[1] This does not take account of the special sitting on Monday 20 June 2016 when the House was recalled and adjourned at 3.40pm to attend the service at St Margaret’s Church.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what was the (a) earliest and (b) latest time of day at which a division took place in the (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16 and (iii) 2016-17 Parliamentary Session.
Answered by Tom Brake
The earliest and latest time of day at which a division took place was as follows:
(i) 2014–15 Session
Earliest: 9.34am (27 February 2015 – Motion to Sit in Private)
Latest: 10.29pm (23 March 2015 – Budget Resolutions and economic situation: Corporation tax)
(ii) 2015–16 Session
Earliest: 9.34am (12 October 2015 – Motion to Sit in Private)
Latest: 12.28am (7 September 2015 – European Union Referendum Bill – Third Reading)
(iii) 2016–17 Session
Earliest: 9.34am (4 November 2016 – Motion to Sit in Private)
Latest: 12.21am (6 February 2017 – European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — Consideration of Lords Amendments)
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 12 of the Government response to the First Report from the Women and Equalities Committee, Session 2015-16, on Transgender Equality, cm 9301, published in July 2016, what progress her Department has made on ascertaining why there have not been any prosecutions under section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2014.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The Crown Prosecution Service and National Police Chiefs’ Council are currently looking into the handling of complaints arising from section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act, and will provide an update in due course.