Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: In terms of the debate, perhaps it would be more healthy for us to go through the achievements announced in a thorough manner by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. We should be debating what we have managed to achieve for women in a real and meaningful sense, whether our child care strategy, our family-friendly employment policies—policies which were sadly lacking under the...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: Child care is not only about nurturing children, but about enabling women to participate in society. We have to start at the top and one of the first things we discovered on coming into government was how women were not taken seriously in a systematic fashion across government. Would the House believe that there is no ability to do modelling in terms of the gender impact analysis of...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: Yes, I have. However, does the hon. Lady agree that, although the Fawcett Society and several senior academics have tried to conduct gender impact analysis throughout Government, the previous Government did not set up the necessary data collection procedures to make that possible? That places the Treasury and other Departments in a difficult position; we must start from scratch. One can...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He notes one study. Non-governmental organisations and women academics are doing a myriad of studies, enabling the new Government to build a picture based on empirical research, instead of starting from scratch. That is of great value to us.
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: The majority of my women and pensioner constituents do not recognise the picture that the hon. Gentleman paints of the past 18 years. They feel sadly betrayed. They feel—
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: I do understand it. Does the hon. Gentleman support the pension package that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has announced regarding pension sharing and the stakeholder pension?
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: The stakeholder pension, as I have patiently outlined and as my right hon. Friend patiently outlined, is a vital plank to help ensure that women who do the unpaid work in society or who cannot, for any reason, participate regularly in the workplace, are not cheated in their pension years. It is a very simple point, but it seems to bypass the hon. Gentleman. In my constituency of Rochdale,...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: It has shown to be a success.
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: I am interested in the thesis that the hon. Gentleman is advancing. As he is so interested in family credit and the change proposed, or floated, in the working families tax credit, is he aware that family credit is currently assessed on joint income, so there would be no difference and no threat to independent taxation? Secondly, is he aware that, of the 750,000 recipients of family credit,...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: He means the washing machine.
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: Although we acknowledge the insidious crime of domestic violence, it is important that the Government strategy makes people aware that our priority is not only domestic violence but all forms of violence against women. Will my hon. Friend tell us something about the cross-departmental workings that are going on to ensure that women can participate fully in the home, in the world of work, on...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: I want to speak in the debate, not because I set myself up as someone who knows much about the economy but because what was announced in the Budget on Tuesday is having a real impact in my constituency. I want to make four points. One concerns the Budget process, which will be crucial to ensure that many people who used not to be enfranchised in Government Budget-making mechanisms now become...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: Yes, but no claimant loses anything now, and my constituents would never take lectures from Conservative Members about anything that they did for women and children in poverty. The Budget clearly says to my constituents—they have told me so, because I have had several meetings with large groups of them since the Budget statement was made—that, for the first time ever, the Government are...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: I am sorry, Mr. Deputy Speaker. You will be well aware that, as women make up 52 per cent. of the population, it would be smart to have some form of analysis of how Government policy and Treasury policy affect them. Therefore, although some people would choose to laugh at it, I think this would be a very dim economic thing to do. That is why I welcome the Chancellor's move to change the focus...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: No. May I just finish my point? The one thing that employers are saying to me is, "Can you please get the Chancellor to make more positive statements about the single currency?" That is the point that my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Sheldon) was making. They wanted us to go ahead and make positive noises about the single currency.
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: I give way to the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Ruffley).
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: No. The point that I was making was the point that manufacturers in my constituency have asked me to make to Ministers. Those manufacturers understand the problem that the Government have in terms of the economy and the high pound. They are saying to Ministers, "We want you to make more positive comments about the single currency." The majority of small and medium employers in my constituency...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: No; I will not. This is important. Those manufacturers will need to be ready, even if we do not join the single currency. They are saying, "If the majority of us will have to be ready, why are we, as a country, not making more positive noises about joining the single currency?" In their estimation, it would make the problem of the strength of the pound less damaging to them and it would give...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: I will not, because I am just about to wind up. Eminent Labour Members have made many good points about the strengths of the Budget. I welcome the fact that we have been able to do something about making work pay for the majority of my constituents, and about helping small and medium enterprises. Most of us did not hope to be able to do both in the same breath, in the same Budget, and we are...
Ms Lorna Fitzsimons: What were the Belfast EU presidency conclusions on women and employability relating to family-friendly working arrangements. [42949]