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Jobs for the Girls: Two Years On

Yes, my hon. Friend is right that there is a difference between how a policy is implemented and whether that is burdensome, and whether the policy itself is burdensome. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the discussion going on in the Conservative party. No doubt we will see in due course. Meanwhile, the hon. Member for Cotswold will be at least willing to support the Government when we introduce the equality Bill, because one thing that it will do is simplify and consolidate the law as it has developed over the years, which can only be good. If we put it all in one place, we will reduce the number of provisions, so I am sure that we will have widespread support in the House for that. We will simplify, modernise and strengthen the law in certain ways. I have referred to one way in which we will strengthen the law, which is by allowing positive action. Where there is under-representation of disadvantaged groups in the work force or in senior positions, employers and service providers should have greater freedom to address that by taking it into account when deciding between equally qualified candidates. Again, I am sure that any sensible person thinking about that would see it as fairly uncontroversial, although it did seem to be controversial in certain newspapers and among certain Members of the House when it was announced, but we will see how that goes when the Bill is published. We will see what everyone's attitude is. I think that it will be a very good thing. It is one way in which some of the disproportionate outcomes in the work force overall that we have all been complaining about today can be tackled in the shorter term. That has to be good.