§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make a statement giving as much detailed information as may be readily available where his Department has helped or assisted in any stated way in obtaining equality of opportunity and employment of women in occupations formerly reserved for and in the near complete control of men.
§ Mr. AlisonThe Sex Discrimination Act 1975 allows certain training bodies to provide training or to give encouragement to women to enter areas of work where they have been under-represented in the previous 12 months. The Secretary of State designates training bodies for this purpose; to date, 29 such bodies have been so66W designated. In addition, the Manpower Services Commission runs a small programme of women-only training to help women to enter non-traditional areas of work, and sponsors a number of schemes in industry to this end. I shall write to the hon. Member in more detail about these activities.