Employment of Women (Hansard, 19 November 1971)

§ Mr. Bishop

asked the Minister for the Civil Service (1) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that where a woman has elderly or infirm dependants or relatives, Departments should ensure that every effort is made to help her to cope with her domestic responsibilities and that unpaid leave should be available if the dependant or relative requires considerable attention; and what action he proposes;

(2) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding reinstatement, that women who have children and who have had at least 20 years' experience should be able to take at least six months' and not more than 12 months' unpaid leave, at a time to be agreed with the Department; and what action he proposes;

(3) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding reinstatement, that applicants for reinstatement should not be required to state their intention to remain permanently in the Service and that rejection of an application for reinstatement to a specific grade should be made only at the level at which promotion to the grade concerned is confirmed; and what action he proposes;

(4) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service that women who resigned because of domestic responsibilities should not be 219W debarred from reinstatement in grades up to and including the substantive grade held on resignation; and what action he proposes;

(5) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service that on reinstatement, previous service should be taken into account in all cases in determining conditions of service, in particular starting salary and promotion seniority, and what action he proposes; and if he will make a statement;

(6) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that Departments should, in consultation with the Civil Service Department, advise women who wish to prepare to return to work of the appropriate retraining and that as far as possible there should be flexible arrangements for the training of women who find it difficult to leave home to attend residential courses; and what action he proposes;

(7) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that Departments should examine the organisation of their work and consider what appropriate part-time work can be provided for serving or former women civil servants who are giving or have given satisfactory service, who are unable to work full-time because they have children to care for, but who wish to continue or resume work in the Service; and what action he proposes;

(8) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that at least one nursery should be set up for an experimental period for the children of civil servants in an area other than London, fees should be fixed in relation to salary but with a maximum, and if the experiment proves to be of value other nurseries should be set up on a similar basis; and what action he proposes;

(9) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service 220W regarding part-time work that Departments which have a substantial amount of case work or a high turnover of staff or a large amount of overtime or blocks of routine work should introduce part-time posts on an experimental basis: and what action he proposes;

(10) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that where work and staff holiday arrangements permit, Departments should consider sympathetically applications from women who have children at school for some unpaid leave during school holidays, particularly where the applicant has only the basic leave allowance: and what action he proposes;

(11) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding flexibility of hours, that Departments should encourage the use of discretion in arranging the hours of attendance of women with family responsibilities; and what action he proposes;

(12) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service concerning recruitment, that it should be open to both men and women to be considered for any job, and appointments should be solely on the grounds of suitability and qualifications; and what action he proposes;

(13) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding leave for urgent domestic affairs, that Departments should use more widely their discretion in granting both paid and unpaid special leave for urgent domestic affairs, and it should be unnecessary first to exhaust annual leave; and what action he proposes;

(14) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding annual leave, that Departments should review their annual leave arrangements to ensure that so far as possible married women are able to take annual leave at the same time as 221W their husbands; and what action he proposes;

(15) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that unpaid leave of up to three years should be available to a woman whose services her Department wishes to retain if she accompanies her husband on a move required by his employment to a place where she cannot continue her own employment in the Civil Service; and what action he proposes;

(16) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding marriage gratuity, that women who now qualify for a marriage gratuity should, under the new superannuation scheme, qualify for either deferred pension benefits or a short service gratuity; and what action he proposes;

(17) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding allowances, that all rules governing Civil Service allowances should be examined with the intention of removing any discrimination on the grounds of sex; and what action he proposes;

(18) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding promotion, that wherever practicable, Departments should arrange for promotion boards to consist of both men and women; and what action he proposes;

(19) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that recruitment literature should explain what provisions there are to assist women to combine a family with a career in the Service, and that Departments should ensure that full information is readily available to staff on the provisions for maternity leave, paid and unpaid leave for special reasons, reinstatement, and retraining; and what action he proposes;

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(20) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that there should be within two years of the Report a review of progress on the operation of those recommendations which are accepted, and that the Civil Service Department should consider how progress can best be monitored in the meantime; and what action he proposes;

(21) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that for established staff, paid maternity leave should be increased to three months, and in addition Departments should continue to have discretion to grant further unpaid leave; and what action he proposes.