Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Deferred
Paragraph: 103
Commission new research to assess effectiveness of laws protecting pregnant women from redundancy.
Recommendation
There is evidence to suggest that we cannot be complacent about the effectiveness of existing law in protecting women who are pregnant from redundancy, or who are on maternity leave, or who return to work after pregnancy. We welcome the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill as a small step, but the Government may need to return with stronger protective measures if evidence of discrimination persists. To collect this evidence we recommend that the Government commissions research similar to that conducted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission for BEIS in 2016.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response outlines its support for the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill and discusses the utility of zero-hours contracts, but it does not address the recommendation to commission research on maternity discrimination.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
103
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
The Government agrees that it cannot be complacent when it comes to protecting women who are pregnant and new parents from discrimination. We are pleased that the Committee has recognised the Government’s support for the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill. We are therefore pleased to confirm that this Bill received royal assent, and became an Act of Parliament, on 24 May. The result of this legislation, and subsequent regulations, is that there will be additional redundancy protection available from the point a woman tells her employer she is pregnant, through to 18 months after the child is born. The Government acknowledges the ongoing need for data on the extent of discrimination against pregnant women and new parents. We do not, however, believe that re-running the 2016 research project is the best way of obtaining this. That is why we continue to work with the Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Advisory Board7 to determine how best to assemble this evidence base. DBT is considering a programme of analysis based on a range of existing data sources (such as Employment Tribunal claims data and the monthly Labour Force Survey) which can be augmented by surveys, such as those currently undertaken by the TUC, Pregnant then Screwed, and others. 7 Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Advisory Board members: Equality and Human Rights Commission; Fawcett Society; Pregnant then Screwed; TUC; Working Families; British Chambers of Commerce; (CBI); Federation of Small Business; Institute of Directors; MAKE UK; Government Equalities Office 12 Post-pandemic economic growth: UK labour markets: Government Response
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