Women and Equality – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 7 February 2008.
Henry Bellingham
Shadow Minister (Justice)
10:30,
7 February 2008
What steps she is taking to encourage female entrepreneurs.
Barbara Follett
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Government Equalities Office
Women's entrepreneurship is a significant strand of enterprise development. The Government have established the taskforce on women's enterprise to accelerate the levels of female entrepreneurship. We are also committed to working with key partners, such as regional development agencies, to support further development of women's entrepreneurship. That includes a national network of 1,000 women's enterprise ambassadors.
Henry Bellingham
Shadow Minister (Justice)
I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. Would she agree that one measure that would do untold damage to the cause of female entrepreneurship would be the implementation of the EU agency workers directive? Can she confirm that it is still her Government's intention to resist the directive?
Barbara Follett
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Government Equalities Office
That would not be its effect, and we do need to have protection for migrant workers.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
