HC Deb 05 February 1990 vol 166 c470W
Mr. Tony Lloyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how his Department intends to encourage employers to address the needs of women returning to work.

Mr. Nicholls

My Department will continue the action that it has taken over many months to encourage employers to make recruitment and retention policies attractive to women. It is doing this primarily through:

  1. (1) alerting employers to the need to recruit women at all occupational levels to help make up for the decline in the numbers of young people. The Training Agency/NEDO report "Defusing the Demographic Time Bomb" has been widely publicised.
  2. (2) encouraging employers to consider introducing—career breaks—part-time work at all levels—flexible working hours—childcare.
  3. (3) its example as an employer
  4. (4) helping women get appropriate training thus enhancing their value to employers.
  5. (5) supporting and publishing research into the female labour market, for example, on employers' recruitment and retention strategies.