1. Whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the upcoming health and disability Green Paper on the finances of disabled people. (903263)

Yesterday afternoon, we set out the Government’s plan to fix the broken system, which gives proper employment support to help hundreds of thousands who are out of work on health and disability grounds, but who want to be in a job; deals with the work disincentive that has been inserted into the benefits system over the past 15 years; and makes the personal independence payment financially sustainable.

In recent weeks, I have been inundated with messages from constituents who are worried sick about changes to the disability benefits system, but yesterday’s announcement goes further than even the Conservatives managed, or dared, to. Disabled people already face systemic barriers in society, including in accessing health, transport and housing. Inadequate financial support already means that some of the most vulnerable have to access food banks. These cuts will exacerbate their pain, and fuel hunger and debt. What assessment has the Department made of the cuts, the impact on finances, and the harm that they will cause?

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the previous Government’s proposal to convert PIP from cash into vouchers, which caused huge anxiety. We made it clear in the announcement yesterday that we are not going to do that, but we will make changes to ensure that the personal independence payment is financially sustainable in the long term. That will reassure a large number of people for whom PIP is vital.

Epilepsy is a lifelong disability that has huge consequences for the lives of those who have it, none more so than those mothers who had epilepsy and took sodium valproate when pregnant, and whose babies were harmed. Will the Minister take time to meet me and my constituent, Janet Williams, whose sons have been affected, to discuss how we can ensure that their quality of life is best supported by the Government?

My hon. Friend raises an important subject, and as she knows, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has set up the valproate pregnancy prevention programme. I, or a Minister from DHSC, will be glad to meet my hon. Friend to discuss those points.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

We all know that life is more expensive for someone who is disabled, and that investing in mental health and social care would give disabled people the support that they deserve. Liberal Democrats believe that if the Government were serious about cutting welfare spending, they would get serious about fixing health and social care, and the broken Department for Work and Pensions. By fixing that, we would reduce the benefits bill in the long term, but yesterday’s changes, which slash the support offered to vulnerable people, will leave many people facing difficult choices. Can the Minister assure disabled people, including the 80,000 in Scotland who are still receiving PIP, that they will be listened to, their needs will be taken into account, and they will somehow continue to get the support that they need?

I am sure the hon. Lady will welcome the additional £26 billion being invested in the national health service in the coming financial year, for exactly the reasons she set out, and the most severely impaired people will be protected under the changes that we announced yesterday to the personal independence payment. Yes, we will be consulting—there will be a full 12-week consultation period on the Green Paper proposals, and we will be listening carefully to what everybody says in response.

2. What steps she is taking to help end discrimination against ethnic minority people. (903264)

6. What steps she is taking to help end discrimination against ethnic minority people. (903268)

14. What steps she is taking to help end discrimination against ethnic minority people. (903277)

This Government are clear that someone’s race or ethnicity should never be a barrier to success. As set out in the King’s Speech last July, we are committed to introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers; those measures will be part of the draft equality in race and disability Bill. Yesterday we published a consultation on those proposals, and announced that we have established a new race equality engagement group, which will partner with ethnic minority communities, stakeholders and delivery partners to help shape the Government’s work on race equality. I am delighted that Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon has agreed to chair that group.

Glasgow’s Muslim community is characterised by its kindness and public service. Last weekend, I visited my friends at the Hillview Islamic and education centre in Shettleston, and met the convenor of the Muslim Council of Scotland, Dr Muhammad Adrees. I heard about terrible incidents of anti-Muslim hatred and crimes in Glasgow and the west of Scotland. Does my hon. Friend agree that our Muslim brothers and sisters should not have to live with that hatred, and will she set out the steps that the Government are taking to combat that?

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and I completely agree with him. Indeed, I also attended a wonderful interfaith iftar in Hounslow on Friday. Islamophobia is completely abhorrent and has no place in our society. No one should ever be the victim of hatred because of their religion or belief. The Government have established a new working group to provide the Government with a definition of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia, and advise the Government and other bodies on how best to understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination and hate crime targeted against Muslims.

I thank the Minister for her commitment to mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting. However, I was disappointed to learn that the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority are rowing back on their proposals to boost diversity in financial services. I feel that risks pushing away the very best talent from the sector. Only 4% of financial services firms disclose their ethnicity pay gap. The announcement will only slow the pace of change that is needed to tackle inequalities. Does the Minister agree that initiatives that aim to reduce the ethnicity pay gap are not anti-growth, but pro-talent and pro-growth?

Fair and equal treatment at work is a right, not a privilege. Companies like Deloitte, which I visited recently, are reporting voluntarily on their ethnicity pay gaps, and I have attended roundtables chaired by organisations such as Change the Race Ratio and ShareAction, which promote the benefits of ethnicity pay gap reporting. There has been progress; last week, the Parker review showed that there is an increasing number of ethnic minority board members in our FTSE companies. I agree with my hon. Friend that pay gap reporting can help employers to identify and remove barriers to progression for their workforces, and unleash talent from all our communities, thereby supporting economic growth, and I thank her for her work on this.

I was pleased to see the Government’s announcement of the newly established race equality engagement group, chaired by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, a tireless campaigner against discrimination for many decades. What steps are the Government taking to recognise caste-based discrimination in law? Will that issue be the focus of the group’s work?

My hon. Friend references the race equality engagement group, which we announced yesterday. The group will strengthen the Government’s links with ethnic minority communities, enabling effective two-way dialogue on the Government’s work to tackle race equalities, and engaging on all issues. We are considering our position on caste discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, and we will update the House in due course.

As a former NHS employee, I was shocked to hear that the Community Security Trust has found that the number of complaints of antisemitism in the NHS tripled in the 17 months after 7 October 2023. What steps are the Government taking to crack down on antisemitism in the NHS?

The hon. Gentleman will agree that antisemitism has no place in our society or in our workplaces. This is an extremely important issue, and he will know that the Home Secretary and the whole Government take it very seriously.

Aberdeen mosque and Islamic centre in my constituency was vandalised while worshippers were inside. I am pleased that the local community came together and helped with the clean-up. The University of Glasgow has published a report that says that one in three Muslim students are victims of Islamophobic abuse. Does the Minister agree that the Government and the House have a responsibility to ensure that racist stereotypes are not putting our Muslim community at risk of a rise in hate crime and far-right extremism?

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. It is important that we tackle religious and racial hatred in all its forms.

As well as overt discrimination, there are many hidden ethnic disparities, particularly in healthcare. Mortality rates in maternity services are four times higher for black women and twice as high for Asian women. What discussions is the Minister having with the Department of Health and Social Care to address those huge inequalities in maternity care?

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. There are stark inequalities in maternal health, mental health and a range of other areas, including infant mortality. She is absolutely right that that must be tackled. We are working across Government and with the Department of Health and Social Care on those issues.

I call the shadow Minister.

Does the Minister think it is acceptable for anyone in this country to say that people should “pray for victory” for Hamas over Israel, or for anyone to celebrate the 7 October attacks as a David-over-Goliath situation? If not, why did the Prime Minister invite Adam Kelwick, who has said such despicable things, to No. 10 just last week? Will the Minister apologise on behalf of the Prime Minister to the Jewish community, who need to know that this Government will stand with them against violence, hatred and division—and, in fact, with communities of all races and religions? All communities need to be supported.

The shadow Minister knows that Hamas is a proscribed organisation, and we will not tolerate antisemitism at any point, or in any way.

3. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls. (903265)

10. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls. (903273)

13. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle violence against women and girls. (903276)

We will deliver a cross-Government violence against women and girls strategy, and we are already taking significant steps to ensure that VAWG is treated as the national emergency that it is. That includes embedding the first domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms under Raneem’s law, starting in five police forces, and further extending the roll-out of domestic abuse protection orders to Cleveland and north Wales.

I thank the Minister for her answer. A constituent of mine in Southampton Itchen suffered horrendous domestic and sexual abuse while she was a serving police officer, but inexplicably the rules did not allow her to take her complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and made her a victim of the very system that was meant to offer her protection. Does the Minister agree that a woman’s right to get justice should not depend on the job that she happens to do? Will she meet me and my constituent to discuss the changes needed so that we can better protect dedicated public servants such as her?

I absolutely agree. I am more than happy to meet my hon. Friend and his constituent. Allegations of any crime involving serving police officers should be investigated robustly and independently by the police. Outside of criminal investigations, disciplinary investigations, including those involving serious assault and sexual violence, are referred to the IOPC under mandatory referral criteria, but there is more to do.

In my constituency of Stevenage, we have an excellent charity called SADA—Survivors Against Domestic Abuse. Such charities rely on multi-agency working to deliver essential services to those affected by domestic abuse. How are the Government continuing to support organisations in working closely together to continue to provide effective services to those who have suffered domestic abuse?

I thank SADA for the amazing work that it does. In December 2024, we prioritised confirming funding for those delivering frontline services. In the next few weeks, we will work on agreeing decisions about our wider budget that will support the Government’s ambition of halving VAWG in a decade, to deliver on our manifesto commitments.

On International Women’s Day, our community in Tamworth came together to not only celebrate the achievements of women, but reflect on the important issue of the safety of women and girls. Local women Tamanna and Mckenzie took the initiative to organise a walk-and-talk event, bringing together key organisations, including the UP Creative Hub community interest company and Tamworth Street Angels. They had never organised an event before, and they managed to pull together 50 women in just two weeks. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Tamanna and Mckenzie on that fantastic event, and on their dedication to raising awareness of such an important issue?

Absolutely, gladly. Tamanna and Mckenzie deserve all our praise. It is infectious; the first time we do such a thing often leads to the second. The rising of the women is the rising of us all.

I am sure we all agree that securing women’s wellbeing is key to tackling violence against women and girls, so can the Minister assure women across my constituency and the country that the Labour Government, having promised to prioritise women’s health, are committed to continuing the Conservative Government’s work by making sure there is a women’s health hub in every integrated care board, to ensure holistic support for women?

A Minister to my left tells me that these hubs are already in nine out of 10 integrated care boards. I can assure the hon. Lady that I am working very closely with the Department of Health and Social Care on the violence against women and girls strategy, because there are real gaps when it comes to how domestic abuse, sexual violence and other related abuses are dealt with by our health services. That will be absolutely fundamental to both protection and prevention.

I thank the Minister for her answers and for her ongoing engagement on this issue with the people in Northern Ireland. The name Natalie McNally will mean much to the Minister; on 18 December 2022, Natalie was brutally murdered in my constituency, along with her unborn baby. Can the Minister update the House on ongoing discussions about a UK-wide strategy for tackling violence against women that will improve conviction rates, get tougher sentencing, and provide more support for victims? We do this in the name of Natalie and the many other women who have lost their lives.

I thank the hon. Lady for her continued support for Natalie’s family. When I was in Northern Ireland, it was very clear to me that that support had been in place. A fundamental part of halving violence against women and girls has be looking at exactly the issue she has talked about—the femicide of women, and how we can all work together in a multi-agency way to ensure that I do not have to read out names like Natalie McNally’s.

Will the Minister discuss with the Home Secretary how best we can bring to account, albeit belatedly, those still surviving who aided and abetted Mohamed Fayed in the rape and sexual assault of young women and girls?

The Home Secretary and I have very much discussed that. While there are ongoing police investigations, it would be inappropriate for me to make any further comment. However, having met some of those affected, I want to see exactly what the right hon. Gentleman wants to see.

I call the Chair of the Select Committee.

The Minister and many colleagues in this place will be aware of the groundbreaking new Netflix programme “Adolescence”. It is chilling, but is rightfully forcing a national conversation about the dangerous content seen by young men and boys, with fatal consequences. Given the important role that schools play in preventing violence against women and girls, will the Minister provide an update on what is being done with the Department for Education to counter misogyny and extreme violence, in order to enable a safe future for young boys and girls?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that including men and boys in the conversation about how we prevent future violence against women and girls will be absolutely fundamental. A huge portion of the new violence against women and girls strategy is focused on prevention, and what we can do in our schools, our workplaces and elsewhere to reach men and boys, in order to change the future.

I have been contacted by a number of women in my constituency who are victims of domestic violence, and whose partners continue to exert control over them through the family court process and the presumption that they will be able to access their children. Will the Minister meet me, or inform me of what she is doing with the Ministry of Justice to help those women escape that control?

I work hand in glove with my counterparts in the Ministry of Justice on the violence against women and girls strategy, and I have long-standing concerns—as the hon. Lady does—about the presumption of contact and family court issues. Those issues will form the subject of part of our reforms, and are being looked into. I will gladly meet the hon. Lady.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

In January, the Labour Government committed to assisting five local inquiries, including one in Oldham. into grooming gangs and rape gangs. Two months on, we have had no update from the Government about the other locations. In which towns can women and girls now sleep safely in their beds? When and where will the other four inquiries take place, and what do the Government plan to do about the other 45 towns and cities across the country in which those gangs have reportedly operated?

What the Government plan to do across the country is more than was done before. The House should expect an update very soon exactly on all the plans that the Home Secretary laid out. She said that the announcement would come before Easter, and I beg the shadow Minister to have the patience she showed with her own Government when they offered none of these things.

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities. (903278)

This Government celebrated International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month by accelerating action to change women’s lives. That means greater opportunities in the workplace and ensuring that our streets are safe for women and that we have better public services for our women and their families. Harnessing the talents and skills of all women will boost our economy. A 5% increase in employment among women could boost the UK economy by up to £125 billion. Women’s equality is at the heart of our plan for change and will drive economic growth for everyone.

According to research, 52% of integrated care boards in England, including Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, still require same-sex couples to self-fund at least six to 12 cycles of costly intrauterine insemination before they are eligible to access in vitro fertilisation treatment on the NHS. Can the Secretary of State please tell us what she is doing to end the postcode lottery for lesbian and bi couples looking to start a family?

My hon. Friend is right to draw the House’s attention to the postcode lottery and the patchy access to IVF across our country. We want to make sure that everyone has fair access to high-quality care. The Department of Health and Social Care has started to make progress towards its ambition to improve access to IVF services, and we also await the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence concluding its review on clinical guidance for the provision of such services.

I call the shadow Minister.

Parents up and down the country are anxious about the use of puberty blockers on under-18s, so I was disappointed to read that the Health Secretary has failed to intervene in an NHS puberty blocker trial, despite grave concerns about children’s safety. The landmark Cass review said that more evidence was needed, but will the Secretary of State show moral courage and common-sense leadership to ensure that these dangerous and irreversible drugs are never tested on our children?

The Government’s position on this issue has been clear. We have accepted all the recommendations brought forward by Dr Hilary Cass. I have met Dr Hilary Cass to discuss this issue. Given the question the shadow Minister has asked, he perhaps misunderstands the recommendations that Dr Cass brought forward.

T2.   What consideration has been given to the introduction of safe leave for employees experiencing domestic abuse? (903280)

We strongly encourage employers to support their employees who experience domestic abuse. Many already do that through their membership of the employers’ initiative on domestic abuse, which empowers employers to take action. I will be working with the Department for Business and Trade, including through the violence against women and girls strategy, to look at issues specific to victims in the workplace.

T6. Will the Minister update the House on what changes, if any, she intends to make to the Equality Act 2010? In particular, if she is going to make caste a protected characteristic, will she ensure that people of all religions that emanate from the Indian subcontinent are consulted, because that measure would severely impact every such family in this country? (903285)

We have no plans to change the Equality Act. As my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) set out earlier, through the new race engagement group being led by Baroness Lawrence we will consider any such questions, including the ones that the hon. Gentleman identifies.

T3.   After an appalling rape incident on the Fuller Street bridge in my constituency, I was shocked to find that last year only 2.7% of recorded rapes in the UK resulted in a charge. What is the Minister doing to improve the charge rate and get justice for more survivors of this appalling crime? (903281)

I am very sorry to hear of the case in my hon. Friend’s constituency. It brings into sharp focus the need to tackle violence against women and girls, and to ensure that our mission to halve its incidence is delivered. Our inheritance from the Conservatives was shocking, with far too many women denied justice, cases never getting to court, and victims being left to wait for years for justice. That is why the Lord Chancellor has made it a priority to take action to deliver justice for women.

Before we come to Prime Minister’s questions, I welcome to the Gallery the Chairman of the State Great Hural, the Parliament of Mongolia.