Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent steps the Government has taken to (a) reduce the gender pay gap and (b) help tackle (i) unequal pay and (ii) discrimination against women in the labour market.

The gender pay gap continues to fall, an increasing number of women are in full-time work, and there’s a higher percentage of women on FTSE 350 company boards than ever before.

There are strong protections against discrimination on the basis of sex in the Equality Act, including reaffirming equal pay protections.

Through mandatory gender pay gap reporting, we are motivating employers to improve workplace gender equality.

To accelerate this progress we’ve announced a pay transparency pilot, STEM returners programme, and a Taskforce on Women-Led High-Growth Enterprises.