§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will now consider amending the Sex Discrimination Act to shift the burden of proof on to the employers to show that they have not discriminated.
§ Mr. AlisonAmendments on these lines are included among a number of wide-ranging amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act proposed by the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Trades Union Congress. These are currently under consideration by the Government, although there is no early prospect of amending legislation.
§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will now consider amending the Sex Discrimination Act to extend the sections on positive action to enable employers to be designated as able to discriminate positively at the point of recruitment.
§ Mr. AlisonNo. It is a fundamental principle of the Act that selection at the point of recruitment should be on merit alone. However, the Act does allow employers to take positive action for one sex only, without the need for any formal designation, by way of encouragement and training for work where one sex has in the past been underrepresented.