HC Deb 25 October 1993 vol 230 cc492-3W
Mr. Marlow

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence to what extent the negotiations on subsidiarity with the EC will enable him to adopt a policy of not paying compensation to women dismissed from the services on account of pregnancy.

Mr. Hanley

Liability of the Government to pay compensation to women dismissed from the armed forces on account of pregnancy between August 1978 and August 1990 was established following an agreed order of the High Court applying EC directive 76/207—the equal treatment directive. The Government believe that this directive is consistent with the principle of subsidiarity.

Mr. Marlow

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many women were dismissed from the services as a result of pregnancy between 1978 and 1990; and on what authority the policy of dismissing such women was based up to 1990.

Mr. Hanley

Some 5,600 women were dismissed from the services on pregnancy between August 1978, when the EC equal treatment directive came into force, and August 1990, when the services discontinued the practice of dismissing women on pregnancy and introduced maternity leave.

The basis for the policy of dismissing service women on pregnancy prior to August 1990 was the exemption granted to the armed forces in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.