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Business of the House

I was very sorry that the shadow Leader of the House could not bring herself to give a sincere welcome to the initiatives that the Chancellor took yesterday to provide better training in skills for women. They have been welcomed universally by all except Opposition Members. The situation contrasts very favourably with the total lack of initiatives for women and work when the Conservatives were in government, while from time to time the pay gap worsened. None the less, acknowledging that there is a pay gap, and acknowledging that the report from the Women and Work commission contains some very good recommendations, may we have a full debate on those recommendations to establish whether we can make progress, and possibly even galvanise Opposition Members into taking a bit of interest in the issue?