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1490505

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
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	Employment: Religion
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of religion and belief discrimination in the workplace.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	39852
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2022 answer text <p>The prevalence of any alleged discrimination by employers because of religion or belief is not routinely monitored by government. However, there are clear provisions set out in the Equality Act 2010 which prevent employers from discriminating against an employee, or a prospective employee, because of religion or belief (including any lack of religion or belief).</p><p>The Government sponsors the Equality Advisory &amp; Support Service, which is a free service offering help and advice to anyone who feels that they have suffered discrimination, and the EASS statistics for contacts to the service relating to religion or belief discrimination within employment over the last five years are:</p><table><tbody><tr><td>Year</td><td>Number of contacts</td><td>% of all contacts to the service</td></tr><tr><td>2018</td><td>150</td><td>0.83%</td></tr><tr><td>2019</td><td>179</td><td>0.97%</td></tr><tr><td>2020</td><td>110</td><td>0.71%</td></tr><tr><td>2021</td><td>193</td><td>1.17%</td></tr><tr><td>2022 (to date)</td><td>59</td><td>0.84%</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The year 2021 saw an increase in contacts, partly due to a number of people claiming that it was their philosophical belief to object to having a vaccination against Covid. Such concerns would be registered by the service under the ‘religion or belief’ protected characteristic category.</p> answering member constituency Derby North answering member printed Amanda Solloway question first answered 22/07/2022 13:22:12 answering member 4372 label Biography information for Amanda Solloway
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1349018

registered interest
date	21/07/2021
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	Age: Discrimination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to tackle age discrimination in the workplace.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	37469
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2021 answer text <p>The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) provides protection for those aged 16 and over against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment. The Act makes it unlawful for an employer to directly discriminate against an employee or a job applicant because of their actual or perceived age or the age of someone they are associated with. Differential treatment because of age is permitted if the employer can show that this is proportionate and in pursuit of a legitimate aim. There are also a number of other limited exceptions to the general prohibition.</p><p>It is also unlawful for an employer to indirectly discriminate on age grounds, for example by use of a recruitment policy which unjustifiably disadvantages particular age groups; to harass an employee for reasons related to their age and to victimise an employee for bringing or supporting a complaint under the Act.</p><p>A person who believes that they have experienced discrimination because of age, or other unlawful treatment, may take their case to an employment tribunal. Before doing so, we advise people to seek advice and if possible try to solve their issue through conciliation.</p> answering member constituency Saffron Walden answering member printed Kemi Badenoch question first answered 10/09/2021 09:50:27 answering member 4597 label Biography information for Kemi Badenoch
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1173640

registered interest
date	27/01/2020
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	Employment: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions her Department has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the fiscal support available for employers who incur costs by making reasonable adjustments for disabled employees.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	8286
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/01/2020 answer text <p>The Government is committed to protecting people with disabilities in the workplace. The Equality Act 2010 places obligations on employers in relation to disabled employees, including a duty to provide reasonable adjustments. However, the legislation recognises the need to strike a balance between the needs of disabled people and the interests of service providers. What is ‘reasonable’ will vary from one situation to another. This is because factors like the practicability of making the adjustment, the cost of the adjustment and the resources available to a business, will vary from one situation to another.</p><p>The government runs Access to Work, a demand-led discretionary grant scheme that offers up to £59,200 funding per year for in-work support for people whose disability or health condition affects the way they do their job. The scheme is designed to offer support above the level of employers’ statutory obligations under the Equality Act 2010, as well as providing advice to employers on in work support available for their employees which could include reasonable adjustments.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 30/01/2020 16:47:47 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1077126

registered interest
date	25/02/2019
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	Fibromyalgia
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether he has plans to classify fibromyalgia as a disability.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	225510
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>We believe that listing specific conditions would not help people with hard to diagnose illnesses (as is currently often the case with fibromyalgia), as doing so would make protection dependent upon a successful diagnosis rather than the immediate impact of the illness on a person’s life.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Equality Act 2010 is the principal means through which disabled people are protected from discrimination in Great Britain but does not, except in a few specific instances, specify conditions that may fall within the definition of disability. This is because in most cases, it is the impact on the person’s life that is the qualifying criteria rather than the condition itself.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The definition set out in the Act means that any person with a physical or mental impairment that falls within this definition will already be protected as having a disability, which may apply to many of those with fibromyalgia.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 04/03/2019 16:04:05 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1027212

registered interest
date	17/12/2018
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to tackle low pay for women.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	202723
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2018 answer text <p>Everyone in the UK should have the opportunity to progress and fulfil their potential in employment, to benefit both the individual and the wider economy. Despite accounting for just under half of all employees in the UK, women are more likely to be in low paid work than men.</p><p>The Government has an aspiration to end low pay, and next year it will set out the Low Pay Commission’s remit from 2020 onwards.</p><p>The National Living Wage (NLW) benefits a higher proportion of women than men. In April 2019, the NLW will increase by 4.9% to £8.21. This is an increase to a full-time minimum wage worker’s annual earnings of over £690, making progress on the government’s objective for the NLW to reach 60% of median earnings by 2020.</p><p>We will be publishing a strategy in the Spring on gender equality and economic empowerment that will include consideration of how we can best support low paid women.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Louth and Horncastle answering member printed Victoria Atkins question first answered 20/12/2018 16:03:50 answering member 4399 label Biography information for Victoria Atkins
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon