My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendments 89A, 129A and 157A in the group and I thank the noble Baronesses, Lady Altmann and Lady Burt, for their support. Many noble Lords have already referred to the Executive powers in this Bill
which go beyond those needed to deliver the intent of preserving and converting existing EU law into domestic law to provide legal continuity on exit day. Clause 7, for example, gives Ministers corrective powers to do whatever they consider appropriate to address a deficiency in retained law. As the Constitution Committee has observed, as wide a subjective concept as “appropriate”, applied to such a broad term as “deficiency”, makes Ministers’ regulation-making powers potentially open-ended. Ministerial assurances on their use cannot substitute for a provision in the Bill to prevent the correcting powers being used to effect substantial changes to implement government policy outwith the stated intention of this Bill.
There are many areas of substantive policy which could be impacted by these open-ended powers, a concern that is captured in the long list of amendments to the Bill. I say to the noble Lord, Lord True, that if the Government more quickly took action to restrain the powers in Clauses 7, 8, 9 and elsewhere, and reflected the concerns that people have, the list of amendments that the Committee is debating might actually reduce in number. I am sure that he did not intend it, but choosing his moment at 10.25 pm to express his frustration at the amount of time spent on certain amendments, just at the point when we are discussing women’s and family issues, does not help the case that there is increasing anxiety that the Conservatives want to cut back on employment rights, particularly as they are afforded to pregnant women and mothers.
The particular focus of these amendments is to prevent powers in Clauses 7, 8 and 9 being used to limit the scope of or to weaken rights relating to maternity, paternity, adoption, parental rights, the rights of pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Such rights are important because they affect the status of half of the population of this country. That is not a small or minority group, it is half of the population. When millions of women voted in the EU referendum to remain or to leave, I doubt that many will have done so in the belief that the result could prejudice their rights or status. These amendments reflect real concerns about the potential impact of Brexit and the application of this Bill on women, expressed by a broad coalition of women and equality organisations such as the Fawcett Society, Women on Boards, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Girlguiding and many others. Bodies such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission share an anxiety that in setting the future of the UK economy, the Government could weaken women’s status in their vision of a differently regulated country.
The treatment of women who are pregnant and who care for children is fundamental to their ability to achieve social and economic equality. The penalty paid for child-bearing and caring is at the heart of the discrimination and loss of opportunity that many women continue to experience. It affects women who have been pregnant, are pregnant, may become pregnant and, by gender association, who do not have children. They all experience the consequences of a collective stereotyping of women.
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There is a deep anxiety that government policy will turn backwards to seeing pregnant women and mothers as a burden on business, rather than progressing forward, further empowering women, enhancing their economic life chances, lifting them from low pay or pushing them through the glass ceiling. The EU is an important source of rights for women, whose rights have not all derived from the UK Parliament but come from Europe: the pregnant workers directive, providing pregnant women with the right to time off for antenatal appointments and safe working conditions; EU case law, which made it clear that dismissal due to being pregnant or on maternity leave is direct sex discrimination; and the parental leave directive, giving working parents the right to unpaid leave to care for their child, who may be ill. Protecting the right to parental leave is a key component of giving women the chance to balance their work and home lives.
We know that substantial policy changes implemented through regulations, as the Bill permits, can carry substantial consequences for equality. The introduction of employment tribunal fees led to the number of cases brought to tribunal dropping by 79% over three years. The Supreme Court ruled that the fees were unlawful and stressed the impact on access to justice, adding that the fees were indirectly discriminatory, given the deterrent effect on women bringing discrimination cases.
I want to remind noble Lords of the background here that is driving anxiety. In February, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published the results of a survey of 1,106 senior decision-makers in business—conducted by YouGov on its behalf—revealing managers’ attitudes around pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Allow me to highlight just a few of the results. More than one in three private sector employers agree that it is reasonable to ask women about their plans to have children in the future during recruitment. My translation: they are reluctant to recruit women who might become pregnant. Almost half of such employers agree that it is reasonable to ask women if they have young children during the recruitment process. My translation: they are reluctant to recruit women who have young children. Almost half of employers agree that women should work for an organisation for at least a year before deciding to have children. My translation: becoming pregnant in the first 12 months in a job warrants dismissal. A third of employers believe that women who become pregnant and new mothers in work are generally,
“less interested in career progression”.
My translation: that is a subjective view that translates into “Don’t promote mothers”. Some 41% of employers agreed that pregnancy puts an unnecessary “cost burden” on the workplace. My translation: that is a one-line summary of the history of gender discrimination. Some 36% of employers disagree that it is easy to protect expectant or new mothers from discrimination in the workplace. My translation: discrimination is still endemic.
Many business attitudes are decades behind the law we have now—let alone the law we may aspire to—which encourages the temptation for government to use correcting powers in the Bill to weaken pregnancy and maternity rights. If women are to progress, safeguarding their rights and challenging stereotyping and business attitudes is not a marginal issue. It is fundamental to the status of half of the UK population, to the aspirations and life chances of daughters, granddaughters, sisters, partners and friends. At the moment, a significant number of women are deeply anxious that this Government do not recognise that and will, in a new regulated world, row back on some of that progress.
Will the Minister recognise the anxieties that I have identified and consider before Report—I am sure others will make the same request, driven by the extent of the powers the Bill—how a way can be found to restrict the correcting powers in the Bill from weakening rights related to maternity, paternity, adoption, parental rights or the rights of pregnant or breastfeeding women?