Written question asked by David Amess (Conservative) on Wednesday, 19 April 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 April 2006. It was answered by Caroline Flint (Labour) on Thursday, 18 May 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Fourth World Conference on Women

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what response her Department made to the report of the Fourth World Conference on Women 1995.

Answer: The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 helped focus attention on gender equality in policy making and in particular the focus on services to strengthen women's health.The Department is committed to improving the health and well being of the general population, including the promotion of healthy lifestyles. The Department is currently taking forward a number of initiatives, including gender specific screening programmes. Some initiatives address particular aspects of women's health which take account of vulnerable and hard to reach populations. Examples include work related to the maternity standard of the national service framework for children, young people and maternity services. The standard contains a number of recommendations including ones to address improving maternal health and the needs of pregnant women experiencing domestic violence. Many of our initiatives help to promote empowerment of women, by encouraging choice and partnership working with professionals over care, therefore fulfilling the commitment given in Beijing.In March, the Department wrote to Baroness Prosser at the Women's National Commission in response to its annual violence against women audit. We provided information on a range of subjects from domestic abuse and female genital mutilation to the gender equality public sector duty, which all public bodies will be legally bound to uphold from April 2007.

Secondary information