Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Policy Evidence

Wednesday 10 February 2021 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Aaron Bell thanked the Minister for her emphasis on data importance and welcomed the Government Equalities Office's commission of the Behavioural Insights Team to summarize evidence on unconscious bias training.
  • The Minister stated that unconscious bias training is ineffective and can be counterproductive, advocating for fairer systems by increasing transparency and openness.
  • Caroline Nokes asked the Minister about steps taken to ensure policies are informed by robust evidence, to which the Minister responded with the launch of an equality data programme focusing on individual life paths and barriers faced in education, employment, and access.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Aaron Bell
Women & Equalities
Context

Bell acknowledges the importance of data in policy-making and references a report by the Behavioural Insights Team that found unconscious bias training had no long-term impact on workplace equality and could have negative consequences.

Question

I thank the Minister for her answer. Like her, I welcome the importance of data in all this. I also welcome the fact that last year the Government Equalities Office commissioned the Behavioural Insights Team to produce a summary of the evidence on unconscious bias training. As she will know, the report highlighted that there was no evidence that this training changed behaviour in the long term, nor did it improve workplace equality. It also stated that there is emerging evidence of unintended negative consequences. So I am glad that the Government are phasing it out in the civil service and that this House is doing the same, but can she assure me and the House that any suggested replacement for this training must be supported by the evidence of what works?

Answer from Elizabeth Truss

My hon. Friend is right that unconscious bias training has been shown not to work and in fact can be counterproductive. The best way to improve equality is to make the system fairer by increasing choice and openness. For example, making systems around pay and promotion more transparent and open has been shown by the evidence to improve equality for everybody.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not provide a specific assurance that any suggested replacement will be supported by evidence of what works.

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Q2 Aaron Bell
Women & Equalities
Context

Bell raises concerns about the effectiveness of voluntary gender pay gap reporting and cites statistics showing a significant decrease in companies reporting their gender pay gaps without mandatory enforcement.

Question

I was very pleased to hear my right hon. Friend's commitment to robust evidence. Does she agree that there is hard data that, when there is enforcement of reporting, more companies publish their gender pay gap? With no enforcement in place, so far this year, just one third of last year's total has reported. Is that robust enough evidence for her that without enforcement there is a danger that equal pay will slide backwards?

Answer from Elizabeth Truss

I am pleased to say that we saw the gender pay gap fall to a record low last year, but we need to continue making progress on that issue, including making sure that we are tackling the cause of the gender pay gap, and 35% of the cause is the fact that women and men are in different occupations. So we need to make it easier for women to get into high-paid jobs in areas such as technology, science, and engineering.

Not addressed: The Minister did not address whether mandatory reporting could increase compliance or if the current level of voluntary reporting is sufficient.

How: Changing Subject To Causes Of Gender Pay Gap

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Q3 Caroline Nokes Con Romsey and Southampton North
Women & Equalities Standards & Ethics
Context

Bell emphasizes the importance of using robust evidence to inform policies and refers to an initiative launched by the government to collect hard data on barriers faced by individuals.

Question

What steps she is taking to ensure that her policies are informed by robust evidence.

Answer from Elizabeth Truss

We must have an equality agenda that is driven by the evidence. That is why we have launched an equality data programme, looking at the life paths of individuals across the country and ensuring that we have hard data about the barriers that people face, whether in education, employment or accessing capital for business.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not specify concrete steps taken to inform policies with robust evidence but mentioned an ongoing programme.

How: Describing A General Initiative Without Specifics

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