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1181089

	registered interest
	date	26/02/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	International Women's Day
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to mark UN International Women’s Day on 8 March.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Mone
	uin	HL1947
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2020 answer text <p>International Women’s Day is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women in the UK and across the globe.</p><p>As you are aware, the UK Parliament has held debates in both Houses to mark this important event. The House of Commons debate was led by the Minister for Women and Equalities, Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP, who delivered the opening statement. Maria Caulfield MP closed the debate.</p><p>I opened the House of Lords debate as the Minister for Women, and it was closed by Baroness Sugg. Thank you for your personal contribution.</p><p>The Prime Minister hosted an International Women’s Day Reception in Downing Street on Thursday 5 March where he gave a speech and took part in a panel discussion with inspirational women from across a range of sectors. Representatives from business, science, and sport, among other areas, attended, alongside school pupils.<em> </em></p><p>International Women’s Day is an important moment and receives significant press attention. As such, Government Equalities Office planned communications ahead of this year's event. This included the Government Equalities Office digital and campaign plans for a series of content featuring women activists and change makers, and Ministerial content including to showcase excerpts from Parliamentary speeches.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 11/03/2020 16:08:22 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	4544 label Biography information for Baroness Mone

1182440

	registered interest
	date	03/03/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Veganism
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the 3 January ruling by Justice Robin Postle that veganism satisfies the tests required for it to be a philosophical belief and is therefore protected under the Equality Act 2010, what plans they have to amend that Act.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
	uin	HL2142
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2020 answer text <p>A series of tribunal readings since 2010 mean that protected philosophical beliefs under the Equality Act 2010 include not only ethical veganism but belief in Scottish independence, anti-fox hunting, democratic socialism and the higher purpose of public sector broadcasting. I therefore agree with my Noble Friend that the scope of philosophical belief will be included in any future decisions the government takes about possible changes to the act.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 17/03/2020 11:38:09 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

1182477

	registered interest
	date	03/03/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Transgender People: Equality
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Equality and Human Rights Commission about amendments to its guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to help providers of services understand how to handle requests for access to services and facilities from transgender people.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lucas
	uin	HL2179
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2020 answer text <p>Those seeking to rely on the protections and exemptions contained in the Equality Act 2020 must be able to do so with confidence and clarity. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's statutory codes of practice on the Equality Act 2010 explain the provisions of the Act and the EHRC is responsible for updating these codes as necessary.</p><p>This Government has been clear that we must take the right steps to protect safe single-sex spaces for women and girls; their access should not be jeopardised. Some women's organisations have expressed concern that predatory men may abuse the gender recognition system, intended to support transgender adults. We have heard these concerns and are considering carefully our next steps.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 17/03/2020 11:39:12 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	1879 label Biography information for Lord Lucas

1182879

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Veganism
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the ruling by Justice Robin Postle on 3 January that veganism satisfies the tests required for it to be a philosophical belief and is therefore protected under the Equality Act 2010, and (2) the Vegan Society’s leaflet, Supporting veganism in the workplace: a guide for employers; and whether they will issue guidance on supporting veganism in the workplace.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
	uin	HL2202
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2020 answer text <p>Further to the answer I gave to PQ <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2020-03-03/HL2142/" target="_blank">HL2142</a>, the Government currently has no plans to issue any guidance on supporting veganism in the workplace. Any employer unsure about their obligations to accommodate staff who are vegan should either contact ACAS for advice or, if more appropriate on a specific case, obtain legal advice.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 23/03/2020 15:12:50 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

1183184

	registered interest
	date	05/03/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Gender
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their definition of (1) man, (2) woman, (3) male, (4) female, (5) boy, (6) girl, (7) transgender, (8) sex, (9) gender, and (10) gender identity.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lucas
	uin	HL2276
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2020 answer text <p>In the Equality Act 2010, &quot;man&quot; is defined as &quot;a male of any age&quot;; and &quot;woman&quot; as &quot;a female of any age&quot;. The other terms listed in the question are not defined, except that &quot;the protected characteristic of sex&quot; is defined in Section 11 of the Equality Act as a reference to a man or a woman, or to persons of the same sex, as appropriate.</p><p>The Government Equalities Office provided a list of terms to help set the context and support respondents in completing the 2018 Gender Recognition Act Consultation. This included short descriptions of the terms ‘sex’, ‘gender’, ‘transgender’ and ‘gender identity’: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721725/GRA-Consultation-document.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721725/GRA-Consultation-document.pdf</a></p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 23/03/2020 15:14:21 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	1879 label Biography information for Lord Lucas

1183445

	registered interest
	date	09/03/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Transgender People
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government under which circumstances a service provider may require a person to provide a gender recognition certificate as a condition of providing services.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lucas
	uin	HL2348
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2020 answer text <p>A Gender Recognition Certificate is a private, legal document which a person would not usually be required to produce as a condition of accessing services, in the same way that a person would not usually be asked to produce their birth certificate. If evidence of gender is required to access a service, it will normally be possible to provide it in the form of other documents, for example a driving licence or a passport.</p><p>The Equality Act allows service providers to offer services to one sex only, for example men’s or women’s toilets or changing rooms. Transgender people can be excluded from single-sex facilities if service providers have a legitimate reason for doing so and if exclusion is the least discriminatory way to proceed.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 24/03/2020 15:41:59 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	1879 label Biography information for Lord Lucas

1184466

	registered interest
	date	11/03/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Gender: Equality
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures, if any, have been put in place to ensure that the Government Equalities Office has regular input into policy proposals to be put forward by (1) the Home Office, (2) the Ministry of Defence, (3) the Department for International Development, and (4) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with particular regard to policies on gender equality.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Anelay of St Johns
	uin	HL2483
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2020 answer text <p>All public bodies in Great Britain, including Whitehall departments, have a legal obligation under the Public Sector Equality Duty to consider the potential effects of key decisions on groups with protected characteristics including gender.</p><p>They are also required to set and publish specific and measurable equality objectives which Whitehall departments have for the last two years included in their Single Departmental Plans. The Government Equalities Office (GEO) encourages departments to publish equality objectives that cover strategic policy work and not only workforce and Human Relations issues. In addition to this, the International Development Act (Gender Equality) 2014 puts the Department for International Development’s commitment to gender equality on a statutory footing and ensures that gender equality remains at the heart of its work.</p><p>GEO has engaged with the specific departments listed on a number of policies including those related to gender equality. For example, as part of the Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls’ Strategy, GEO are working alongside Home Office on work to tackle harmful gender norms.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 23/03/2020 15:14:55 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns

1187334

	registered interest
	date	23/03/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Gender: Equality
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what procedures, if any, have been put in place to ensure that the Government Equalities Office has regular input into policy proposals to be put forward by (1) the Home Office, (2) the Ministry of Defence, (3) the Department for International Development, and (4) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, with particular regard to policies on gender equality.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Anelay of St Johns
	uin	HL2796
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2020 answer text <p>The Integrated Review will not be limited to specific departments, objectives or time frames but will take a holistic approach to our place in the world and how Government is best structured to achieve our objectives.</p><p>The Government will utilise expertise from both inside and outside government for the review, including to ensure diversity of thinking and challenge are part of the process. As with all work by government departments, any decision-making arising from the review will need to take account of the statutory public sector equality duty.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 07/04/2020 11:46:08 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns

1189625

	registered interest
	date	21/04/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Hospitals: Gender
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the Equality Act 2010 to require hospitals to provide single-sex services.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne
	uin	HL3143
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/06/2020 answer text <p>The government is committed to maintaining protections for single-sex services. Hospitals are already able, under Paragraph 27 (5)(a) of Schedule 3 of the Equality Act 2010, to provide such services and the NHS’s guidance on <a href="https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/6005/Delivering_same_sex_accommodation_sep2019.pdf" target="_blank">Delivering Same Sex Accommodation</a>, published in September 2019, is very clear that hospitals must provide such services, with very few exceptions.</p><p>We have no plans to change the Equality Act 2010 to require hospitals to provide single-sex services.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge question first answered 03/06/2020 11:04:14 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	1164 label Biography information for Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne

1189704

	registered interest
	date	21/04/2020
	answering body	Women and Equalities
	answering dept id	31
	answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
	answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
	hansard heading	Equal Pay
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to (1) measure, (2) monitor, and (3) reduce, the (a) gender, (b) ethnicity, (c) disability, and (d) LGBTQ+, pay gap.
	tabling member printed	Lord Shinkwin
	uin	HL3222
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2020 answer text <p>Pay gaps are caused by a range of factors. To address them, we must ensure that everybody has equal access to opportunities.</p><p>In 2017, we introduced mandatory gender pay gap reporting for large employers, providing an unprecedented level of transparency. The gender pay gap is currently at a record low of 17.3%. However, the gap for full-time employees increased slightly to 8.9%. To address the drivers of the gap, we’ve set out a package of commitments aiming to empower women from school right through to retirement.</p><p>The Government ran a consultation from October 2018 to January 2019 on Ethnicity Pay Reporting and received over 300 detailed responses. The Government met with businesses and representative organisations to understand the barriers towards reporting and what information could be published to allow for meaningful action to be taken. We have also run voluntary methodology testing with a broad range of businesses to better understand the complexities outlined in the consultation using real payroll data and will share next steps in due course.</p><p>Calculation and monitoring of disability and LGBT pay gaps raises significant issues of self-reporting and data accuracy and this data is not widely collected by employers. Although we have no plans for data collection of pay for these characteristics, we want to achieve practical changes for disabled people, which remove barriers and increase opportunity. The Government will publish an ambitious ‘National Strategy for Disabled People’. We will ensure that the lived experience of disabled people is at the heart of the new National Strategy and focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most.</p><p>The 108,000 respondents to the National LGBT Survey told us that their priority in the workplace is to tackle discrimination. So the Government Equalities Office is exploring the creation of a package of measures to tackle LGBT workplace discrimination. LGBT people should be able to be themselves in the workplace, so that they can do their best work and achieve their full potential.</p><p>Diverse workforces make good business sense. For example, organisations in the top 25% for gender diversity on their executive teams are 21% more likely to have profits above their industry average, and organisations where over 20% of managers are women have been associated with higher performance than organisations with less than 15% representation of women.</p> answering member printed Baroness Berridge grouped question UIN HL3223 HL3224 question first answered 05/05/2020 12:58:03 answering member 4218 label Biography information for Baroness Berridge
	tabling member	4557 label Biography information for Lord Shinkwin