The Women and Equalities Committee has announced that it is re-opening two inquiries from the previous Parliament, taking forward the evidence it gathered before the General Election.
The inquiry into fathers in the workplace seeks to investigate workplace barriers to fathers taking a more active role in caring for their children. It points out that sharing caring responsibilities more equally is the key to reducing the gender pay gap and that the introduction of shared parental leave has had relatively little impact, with a predicted take-up of just 2-8%. The inquiry seeks evidence on a range of issues, including employment-related, financial and social barriers to shared caring, the role that Government and employers can play in overcoming those barriers, and whether there are examples of best practice among employers that could be taken up more widely.
The second inquiry, into older people and employment, focuses on how Government policies can help people extend their working lives, and whether further steps can be taken to address issues including age discrimination. Of particular relevance to employers is the question of whether further steps should be taken to reduce age discrimination in recruitment and the relevance of the Taylor review of modern working practices to improving the prospects of older workers. The deadline for written submissions to the inquiry is 3 November 2017.
