Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) pay discrepancies and (b) disadvantage in the labour market for women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.

It is crucial that we ensure everyone is treated fairly in the workplace, so that they can thrive and reach their full potential.

This Government is committed to the empowerment of women in the workplace. Over the last decade our work has seen the gender pay gap fall considerably, and a strong growth in the number of women in full-time work. To drive forward this progress we have recently announced a groundbreaking pay transparency pilot, a new STEM returners programme and a Taskforce on Women-Led High-Growth Enterprises.

On ethnicity pay gaps; in “Inclusive Britain”, the response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ report, we accepted the recommendation to publish guidance for employers to support a voluntary approach to ethnicity pay reporting. Work on this is already underway.