Equality Bill

Part of the debate – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:31 am on 9 June 2009.

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Katja Hall: Yes, of course I agree that equality and diversity make good business sense and are important. Not only does it enable employers to recruit from the widest possible pool of employees, but we know that employers need to respond and serve the customers of the markets in which they operate, and to do that effectively, their workplaces must be diverse.

On your question about indirect discrimination, I think that it is important that companies continually look at their pay systems. There are a lot of ways of doing that. We talk to members every day about the different ways in which they look at their pay systems and make sure that there is not bias within them. It is not just to do with different jobs and whether people are paid the same. It is to do with things such as starting salaries, women taking time out of the labour market, and, if you have an incremental pay scale, making sure that women do not fall behind because of that. Of course companies need to assess their pay systems and make sure that they are fair. On your question about disclosure and transparency, the CBI would definitely be keen to be involved in an exercise that shows the different ways in which meaningful progress can be made to tackle the pay gap.