Women and Equalities written question – answered am ar 27 Chwefror 2024.
Maria Caulfield
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government has taken wide ranging action to ensure everyone, regardless of their sex, can take advantage of the same opportunities in both education and employment, some examples are outlined here.
To prevent girls from missing school due to the cost of period products the DfE funds a period product scheme which provides free period products to pupils and students. The scheme covers all state-funded schools with female learners in year 5 or above and DfE-funded 16-19 education organisations in England. Since the scheme’s launch in January 2022, 99% of secondary schools, 94% of 16-19 education organisations and 75% of primary schools have placed an order for products.
To increase the take up of computer science qualifications the DfE have invested in the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE), which supports the ‘I Belong’ programme, available to secondary schools. Focused on Key Stage 3, ‘I Belong’ aims to improve schools’ awareness of the barriers to girls’ engagement with computing so they are better able to remove them.
The Government also supports the STEM Ambassadors programme, a nationwide network of 30,000 registered volunteers from over 7,000 STEM and related employers. Approximately 48% of Ambassadors are women and 17% are from minority ethnic backgrounds, providing young people with a variety of role models, and encouraging increasing numbers of girls to take STEM subjects.
To make sure these gains are not lost as women move from education into employment, the Government has enhanced several legal protections which particularly benefit women, including; enhancing flexible working, extending redundancy protection for those on maternity leave, introducing carers leave, and strengthening the protections against harassment in the workplace.
Yes1 person thinks so
No3 people think not
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
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.
Christian Wakeford
Opposition Whip (Commons)