Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions each have responsibility for specific aspects of equality policy. Co-ordination of equality issues will be handled by a Cabinet Committee.
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The Government intend that any measures introduced to promote equality of opportunty between men and women will be compliant with the United Kingdom's international obligations.
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: My Lords, I join other noble Lords in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Walliswood, for securing the debate this evening on the subject of women's representation. We have had an excellent debate and, given the constraints of time, I shall endeavour to reply to as many noble Lords as time permits and beyond that, if noble Lords will permit it, I shall write to them. I take this...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: Ministerial responsibilities are set out in The List of Ministerial Responsibilities published by the Cabinet Office.
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: On 26 June 2001, the Cabinet Office published a report on the results of a Civil Service-wide survey of the opinions of staff on diversity and equal opportunities issues, a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Overall, this showed that opinion generally did not differ significantly as a result of sexuality across the broad range of issues covered by the survey, but...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: We are committed to introducing a duty on public bodies to promote sex equality when parliamentary time allows.
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: I am responsible for co-ordination on the Article 13 Employment Directive and its implementation with respect to age, religion and sexual orientation, reporting to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. I am also responsible for wider policy on sexual orientation discrimination. Policy on age, except for the Article 13 Employment Directive, is with the Department for Work and Pensions...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: There has been extensive research into the reasons for women's under-representation in politics and the Government are currently considering whether they need to commission further work. The most recent study was published by the Equal Opportunities Commission in August 2001, entitled Women in Parliament: a comparative analysis. This concluded that the use of positive measures was the...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The Government are aware of a variety of methods used by other member states to increase the representation of women in parliament. Both the Constitution Unit at University College London and the Equal Opportunities Commission have produced work that highlights methods. The Minister for Transport, Local Government and the Regions has today introduced legislation so that the principle of...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The Government are aware that women's representation in both the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament is significantly higher than in the House of Commons because of positive measures used in these elections by certain political parties. The Government have introduced legislation today in the other place to enable parties to use positive measures to seek to reduce inequality between numbers...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The Minister for Transport, Local Government and the Regions announced legislation to reduce the inequality in the numbers of women and men elected in the other place today. The Bill proposes to exclude from the operation of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 positive measures political parties may take to reduce inequality in the numbers of men and women elected when selecting candidates....
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The international obligations referred to in the Written Answer of 5 July (WA 58) do include Article 4.1 of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: My Lords, perhaps I may say first of all that I found the speech of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Oxford on the concept of public service most thought-provoking. I shall try to cover the issues that he raised. We have had an excellent debate, as has been recognised around the House, and once again I am struck by the depth of knowledge we are fortunate to be able to draw on in this...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The Social Exclusion Unit was set up to help improve government action to reduce social exclusion by producing "joined-up solutions to joined-up problems". The unit has published reports on five key areas: truancy and school exclusions; rough sleeping; neighbourhood renewal; teenage pregnancy; and bridging the gap: 16 to 18 year-olds not in education, training or employment. The unit was...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: We are learning from the experience in Northern Ireland of creating a unified single Equality Commission. It covers a range of practical and financial matters, as well as issues relating to the functions, structure, balance, focus and accountability of the commission. Further lessons will no doubt be learnt as the commission beds down. Equality and human rights issues, including the setting...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: The Government's priority is to achieve coherence and, where desirable and appropriate, consistency between the different anti-discrimination statutes in Great Britain. We also need to ensure we effectively meet our European obligations. Our actions will be focused on the steps necessary to provide individuals, business and other organisations with a clear understanding of their respective...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: My Lords, having supported the Bill's development while Minister for Women, I am particularly pleased to speak in this debate, and I am delighted that the Bill is receiving its Second Reading today. As many of your Lordships are aware, selections that will be made this year could be affected by this legislation. I therefore welcome the Bill's simplicity and the speed with which it is being...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: My Lords, when people ask what the point of the House of Lords is, we should point to this debate and to the quality of the committee's report. Whatever the eventual outcome of our discussions—I should say that I support a change in the law—the time is clearly right for this debate. I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Joffe, for bringing forward his Bill. We cannot ignore this matter...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, for introducing this timely debate. Like many noble Lords, my continuing passion is education, both as a parent and as a former teacher. As a Member of this House, I feel that there is nothing more important for us to spend time on discussing. When we think about the future prosperity of the country, there can be no greater concern...
Baroness Morgan of Huyton: My Lords, this is a valuable, if short, debate. I am particularly pleased to speak after the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Liverpool, because I am very interested in the new Francis of Assisi school, to which I shall turn in a minute. I begin by asking what parents seek when they are looking for a school for their children. I think we basically agree that, ideally, we want it to be...
