§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General what steps he is taking to institute programmes that would inform women workers of their rights under legislation and other remedial measures as set out in paragraph 72 of the Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyA comprehensive range of Government booklets explaining individuals' employment rights, including those of special significance to women, can be obtained free of charge through this Department's offices or where appropriate from the Equal Opportunities Commission. The commission itself does valuable publicity work. In particular, it publishes a series of leaflets called "Sex Discrimination Decisions" which present case law in an accessible fashion; and its code of practice which was approved by the House this year contains useful guidance on the steps which employers and others may need to take to comply with the Sex Discrimination Act.
§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General (1) what steps he is taking to promote the occupational desegregation of women and men, as called for in paragraph 137 of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women;
(2) what steps he is taking to evaluate those parts of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women which apply to his Department; what resources he has allocated to this; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe Government are fully committed to eliminating sex discrimination in employment and are promoting women's entry into non-traditional occupations by a variety of means. For example, we are encouraging employers to observe the Equal Opportunities Commission's code of practice; we have designated 27 training bodies this year under section 47 of the Sex Discrimination Act to run women-only courses in such skills as engineering and management, bringing the total of designations since 1975 to 120; and we have given encouragement and financial support to the women into science and engineering (WISE) campaign. Women are encouraged to consider the full range of Manpower Services Commission training opportunities, and the MSC funds pump-priming projects within industry to demonstrate to employers the benefits of developing82W female employees for a wider range of jobs. We recognise that additional barriers need to be tackled early in working life and efforts are being made to overcome sex-stereotyping in the youth training scheme and technical and vocational education initiative. Programmes are systematically invaluated to assess their effectiveness and we also take note of the results of the annual labour force survey and other surveys in assessing the advancement of women in the labour market.
§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General what meetings he has had with the Equal Opportunities Commission to discuss the implementation of those parts of the Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women relevant to his Department; and what future plans he has for such meetings.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyMy colleagues and I frequently meet the chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission to discuss women's employment and training issues, the last occasion being on 28 November at our advisory committee on women's employment. I am also meeting Lady Platt this afternoon to discuss the Government's proposals to amend the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and expect to continue to meet her frequently in the future.
§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General what plans he has for implementing paragraph 58 of the Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women, which calls for the collection of timely and reliable statistics on the situation of women.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe Department's regular statistical series and special feature articles on labour market topics, which are published inEmployment Gazette, normally quote separate figures for men and women. The Department also commissioned the wide-ranging women and employment survey. The annual labour force surveys and general household surveys are also major sources of statistics relating to the situation of women.
§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Paymaster General whether he will establish a special office within his Department to monitor periodically and accelerate the process of equitable representation of women as called for in paragraph 88 of the Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyI am fully committed to increasing the representation of women on bodies to which this Department makes appointments. I wrote to the CBI and TUC earlier this year urging them to identify and put forward a larger number of female candidates and have also been in touch with the chairmen of ACAS, the Health and Safety Commission, the Manpower Services Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission on this subject. I am monitoring progress, and I wrote to the EOC last month giving the latest figures of female appointees to public bodies sponsored by this Department.
§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Paymaster General what steps he is taking to implement paragraph 162 of the United Nations Nairobi forward looking strategy for the advancement of women relating to measures to enhance the occupational health and safety of women in areas where women predominate or work with the new technologies.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires employers to ensure, so far as is 83W reasonably practicable, that the work place is safe and without risk to health. Employers must take account of individual needs and capabilities in making health and safety arrangements. The Health and Safety Commission takes into account any special needs of women when developing legislative proposals.