Women and Equalities Questions — AnswerTheQuestion

4. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help remove children from poverty.

I am proud of what the previous Labour Government did in rolling out Sure Start services, and of the role that I played in Nottingham and Derby in that connection. Does the Minister agree that where people are born should not determine their future, and that connecting Sure Start to maternity services delivers hope and opportunity and pulls many children out of poverty, including those living in former coalfield communities in my constituency such as Ollerton, Blidworth, Rainworth and Clipstone?

RED (9/100) Chris Murray

Child poverty haunts Edinburgh. In Scotland’s capital there are more homeless children than there are in the whole of Wales, which is a shameful legacy of 20 years of Scottish National party rule. Worryingly, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation warned last month that we are set to miss our child poverty targets by a significant margin; one in five Scottish children are still in poverty. What conversations has the Minister had with Scottish Ministers about tackling child poverty, and will she press them to use some of the extra £18 billion that this Government have given the Scottish Government for Scotland’s poorest children?

AMBER (42/100) Rebecca Smith

The Secretary of State recently announced the closure of the independent Social Mobility Commission and its replacement with a Government-run class unit. The commission existed to pose independent challenges to Ministers, whereas the new unit will report to Ministers. Many will conclude that abolishing an independent commission and replacing it with an internal Government body amounts to weakening scrutiny, at precisely the moment when the Government claim to be serious about tackling inequality and child poverty. How can we have confidence in the Government’s assessment of their own performance when the independent body established to provide that assessment has been abolished?

AMBER (65/100) Mr Jonathan Brash

2. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle period poverty.

AMBER (60/100) Mr Jonathan Brash 33% vibes

Will the Minister join me in paying tribute to my constituent Lyndsay Hogg for her tireless campaign to persuade businesses to provide free sanitary products in their public toilets? Lyndsay believes that we should go further and make that a legal requirement for businesses, ensuring that no woman or girl is ever prevented from participating fully in society because she has no access to essential sanitary products. Does the Minister agree that that could be a huge step forward in tackling period poverty, and will she agree to meet Lyndsay and me to explore how we can make this ambition a reality?

AMBER (30/100) Christine Jardine

Period poverty is a huge issue. The measures that the Minister has outlined are welcome, but it is a much wider issue. It has been estimated that women spend 20% more than men in their lifetimes on essential products—not cosmetics, but essential hygiene products. For a family with two or three children who are girls, that has a massive impact on their budget. Will the Government consider something that I have suggested often: looking at the pink tax—the extra money that women are charged—and doing something about it?

AMBER (30/100) Josh Newbury

3. What assessment she has made of the impact on trans people of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s updated services code of practice.

AMBER (46/100) Josh Newbury

In the three months since the revised code of practice came into force, trans people have reported being forced out of all single-sex spaces, such as toilets for either gender, and they feel that the clock has been turned back to a time when their very existence was policed. That is clearly incompatible with their ongoing protections under the Equality Act, and I hope that it is not in the spirt of what the EHRC hopes to achieve. Will the Minister keep listening to the real-world experiences of trans people and, if necessary, tell the EHRC to look again at the code?

GREEN (82/100) Noah Law

5. What steps she is taking to help disabled people with the cost of transport.

AMBER (42/100) Noah Law

I welcome the recent revision to the way the Motability changes are set to be delivered, which will ensure that people can apply for a mileage allowance if they are making journeys for healthcare, education, employment or other essential needs. There is also an automatic increase of up to 3,000 miles for rural users, which will go some way towards reducing the otherwise unfair impact of the changes on those living in rural areas. I am grateful for the representations of Labour Rural Research Group colleagues on this issue, and I am grateful to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for his nuanced approach, but what further steps are Ministers taking to support disabled travellers in rural areas?

RED (8/100) Sir Julian Lewis

I warmly welcome the extension of the travel hours for those with disabled bus passes, but there is one further step that is still necessary for disabled people who cannot travel on a bus without a companion. At the moment, whether a council allows the disabled bus pass to cover a companion is still discretionary. That needs to be made mandatory, because there is not much point in a disabled person having a free bus pass if the person who has to be with them has to pay the full fare.

GREEN (86/100) John Milne

12. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls.

AMBER (52/100) Richard Quigley

Members will have heard me speak many times about the injustice of victims of sexual assault and rape on the Isle of Wight having to travel by ferry for evidence gathering and treatment, because of the lack of a sexual assault referral centre, yet these traumatic journeys continue and many victims tell me how they feel badly let down. Will the Minister meet me to discuss a way forward so that no one has to leave the island to access that essential service?

RED (5/100) John Milne

Chart Way is a major pedestrian route into central Horsham, but its street lighting is operated by the owner of an adjacent office block that was recently purchased by a venture capital company. Unfortunately, the company in question has refused to turn on the lights or respond to any inquiry from councillors or my office, despite the fear felt by women and girls—and, indeed, the danger it creates—as the nights draw in. What avenues do we have to address this problem; can the Minister offer any assistance? We just do not seem to have any powers.

AMBER (56/100) Olivia Bailey

Time and again, powerful men are abusing women and then trying to silence them. Every woman must be protected, so will Ministers ban the misuse of non-disclosure agreements for harassment and misconduct—for everyone, not just employees?

RED (15/100) Lincoln Jopp

Thousands of prisoners are being released early on condition that they wear a security tag. Is the Minister aware of media reports that hundreds of prisoners are currently simply refusing, once released, to wear a tag? That must be deeply disturbing to the victims of their crime. Would she work with the Ministry of Justice to sort this out?

RED (12/100) Rebecca Smith

Female genital mutilation is one of the most serious forms of violence against women and girls, yet the Government’s understanding of its prevalence is still based on figures from 2011, estimating that 137,000 women were living with FGM in this country. We cannot tackle what we do not measure, so if Ministers genuinely regard violence against women and girls as a national priority, will they stop relying on 15-year-old estimates and commission an urgent, comprehensive study to establish the true prevalence of FGM in Britain?

GREEN (82/100) Marie Goldman

Yesterday, ITV News and The Guardian reported disturbing allegations, only possible thanks to the courage of the women who came forward, of grooming and sexual misconduct made against the celebrity David Walliams. Among the disgusting allegations of sexual advances to girls as young as 15, the years-long investigation also describes how one of the women received a threatening letter from Walliams’s lawyers demanding a written promise that she never speak about her experiences. Will the Minister meet me and my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) to discuss, cross-party, how we work to end the manipulation of the justice system by rich and powerful men who try to silence their victims?

RED (20/100) Jim Shannon

7. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that disabled people receive appropriate reasonable adjustments to allow them to access public services.

RED (22/100) Jim Shannon

I thank the Minister very much for that answer, but he will know that in Northern Ireland the disability employment gap remains, at 40.3%, the largest in the whole of the United Kingdom. Persistently low employment rates are particularly concerning following the loss of the European social fund financial support, which previously aided many employment services and disabled people in Northern Ireland. What discussions will the Minister have with the relevant Minister back home in Northern Ireland to secure sustainable replacement funding for those services, and to ensure that disabled people have the support and opportunities they need to access public services in the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland?

AMBER (28/100) Chris Vince

I recently met a resident in my constituency who is blind and relies on an assistance dog to get about in his local area of Nazeing. One of the biggest challenges we face across Harlow is the problem of pavement parking and how that affects people who are partially sighted. What conversations has the Minister had with the Department for Transport to tackle pavement parking to make it easier for those who are partially sighted or blind to get around?

RED (20/100) Paula Barker

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

AMBER (42/100) Paula Barker

A report in July by the Women and Equalities Committee found that black people are four times more likely to experience homelessness than people who are white. In 2025-26, black people made up 2% of households in Liverpool, with 12% of those recorded homeless, or at risk of being so. Despite the Government’s welcome commitment to end rough sleeping, they are still to respond to the Committee’s report. Will the Minister chase that urgently and set out what steps the Office for Equality and Opportunity is taking to ensure that the rough sleeping programme addresses the specific challenges facing black people experiencing homelessness?

RED (17/100) Rebecca Smith

The Secretary of State has made class a central theme of her equalities agenda, but before she can tackle class-based disadvantage, she must surely be able to define it, so what is her definition of class and how will her Department identify who is and who is not working class?

AMBER (32/100) Josh Newbury

T3. There is a clear distinction between discussion and disagreement, and harmful conversion practices. The Government’s draft Bill is clear in using the existing definition of abusive conduct in criminal law. Does the Minister agree with me that the protections in the Bill are urgently needed, and that before the end of this Session we should pass the comprehensive, trans-inclusive conversion practices ban that our manifesto called for?

AMBER (62/100) Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst

T5. Will the Minister set out what steps she is taking to ensure compliance with the legal framework around single-sex spaces for all public bodies?

AMBER (62/100) Graeme Downie 50% vibes

T4. For nearly a decade, Dunfermline Athletic football club has made Samaritans its main charity partner. Through matchday messages, pitch-side advertising and an annual awareness day at East End Park, the Pars tell fans that it is always good to talk, reaching people who might never walk into a GP surgery. Will the Minister join me in congratulating the Pars on the work they do, and will she ensure that the Government’s own work on mental health learns from such community partnerships?

RED (5/100) Munira Wilson

T6. The Prime Minister has said that it is important that rape and sexual assault victims do not feel like they are the ones being put on trial in cases, yet the mother of a rape victim who came to see me last week said that her daughter felt exactly that way when her abuser was put on trial. Does the Minister agree with the Victims’ Commissioner that juries in those cases need to be directed in the myths and misconceptions around rape?

RED (22/100) Carolyn Harris

Thank you, Mr Speaker—[Interruption.] On behalf of menopausal women around the world, I thank the House for that warm welcome. According to the big Menopause Mandate 2026 survey, 90% of working women say that symptoms affect them at work, yet only 39% of their employers have a menopause policy. How will the Government ensure that the menopause action plans set to be introduced next year will be implemented and monitored to support women through that very important stage of their life?

AMBER (26/100) Ben Obese-Jecty

T7. In November last year, the former Prime Minister pledged to hold a national summit on men and boys by the end of 2026. Could the Government provide an update on exactly where we are with that, given that we are now in November this year?