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Women, Justice and Gender Equality

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I am using the word ““women”” because the debate is about women, but implied in that is the need for both parents to have access to flexible working. That does, though, produce problems for very small organisations—employers who may have only a handful of employees. It is much more difficult for them to allow an employee to have flexible arrangements or to be away given that the absence of one person can have a serious impact on the running of the organisation, whereas a large organisation can absorb those special arrangements much more easily through job-sharing and flexible times. When we introduce legislation that makes life easier for employees, we must remember the very small employers on whom it has a much more serious impact than larger organisations. I should like to touch on the interrelated subject of midwifery. In my hospital trust area, I had three district general hospitals, one of which—Harold Wood hospital, where a large amount of midwifery services were provided—recently closed. We are left with a very nice new hospital in Romford called Queen’s hospital and King George hospital in Seven Kings. The new hospital is in the middle of the trust area, but new mums from Upminster and Cranham have to go to the far end of the trust area, to King George hospital in Seven Kings, for midwifery services, unless they are a high-risk case. It is very important that midwifery services are local. Women also need ante-natal classes, which were stopped almost a year ago because of budgetary difficulties. Those classes not only provide medical treatment but have a social aspect, particularly for first-time mums who can compare notes with one another, and they need to be local. Some mothers have other children at school, and the difficulty of travelling several miles for a class often means that they will not go because it does not fit in with their other commitments. It is extremely worrying that there is a possibility of a second district general hospital closure in my trust area. That would leave us with only one. If that happens—it is subject to a ““Fit for the Future”” consultation—we will have to identify at least one and possibly two local sites for midwife-led centres. If such centres are to deal with most routine midwifery cases, what arrangements will be in place when an emergency occurs and women have to be transported to a hospital? The Royal College of Midwives says that we have a national shortage of midwives and that we currently need another 10,000. The restructuring and reconfiguration of services to which I alluded will exacerbate that. I am therefore concerned about where the midwives will come from to serve all the pregnant mothers and new mums in my hospital trust area. That will be a high profile element of the ““Fit for the Future”” consultation. I want briefly to mention domestic violence. I pay tribute to the Havering women’s refuge and its wonderful work in providing a safe haven for mothers and young children who have suffered domestic violence. It is a travesty of justice that the women and the children have to leave their home when the perpetrators of the violence remain there. The law needs to tackle the matter seriously. I have already mentioned access to children. Trying to balance the rights of the mother to protect her children with the legal rights of the father, whom the mother regards as unsuitable for her children to be with, is a constant problem. We need to do much more, especially to control fathers and partners who are violent in the home but present a different face in public. Many women who suffer domestic violence are frightened to say what is happening. They think that they will not be believed because the public face that their partners or husbands present is so pleasant and reasonable. They think that no one could possibly believe what is going on behind their closed doors. To improve status and opportunities for equality, we need first to change the nature of sex education so that girls are forewarned of all the risks of becoming sexually active too young and the possible long-term impact on their lives, education and career prospects. Secondly, we need to ensure that good midwifery services are available in all our hospital trust areas—especially mine—so that child care is given the high status that it requires. It is an important service that should be of high quality. Working mothers should be able to rely on it so that they can go to work confident that their children are happy and safe while they are away. Thirdly, legislation on the employment of women should ensure that small employers as well as employees can have confidence.