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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures her Department has taken to ensure that women in science, engineering and technology are able to return to work after a career break. [180069] Ms Hewitt: The Government have been looking at the barriers all women face in returning to work following a career break, and has introduced a range of measures to support those women who wish to return to employment. This includes the introduction of the National Childcare Strategy in 1998 to provide accessible, affordable and quality child care for all children, and Government funded schemes to support substantial expansion in child care provision. The Government are also providing substantial help (approaching £2 million a day) through the tax credit system. In April 2003 the Government introduced a package of new measures to enable new parents to request flexible working and their employers have a statutory duty to consider their requests seriously. More recently, I announced that the Government are opening a debate with parents and employers about the issue of choice in balancing work and family life to hear directly from employers and parents with a view to reviewing the existing measures in 2006. For women returning specifically to science, engineering and technology careers, DTI is also making available £500,000 per annum for the Resource Centre for Women in SET to develop a dedicated returners package. Full details of the package will be published when the centre is launched on 16 September. This will address both the supply and demand side. The Resource Centre contract specifies providing a range of services to employers including developing a kite marking or award for gender equality HR practices (work life balance procedures; returners re-entry schemes; mentoring schemes etc.), employer networking events and good practice guides.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

180069; 423 c780W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Women Equality Engineering Technology Science Career breaks

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk