Women are a crucial part of the Armed Forces community, both through the value of their service and their contribution to society as veterans. Engaging and supporting the women who have served in our Armed Forces in East Grinstead and Uckfield and across the country, is an important part of our new Veterans Strategy, to ensure they have access to support that understands their in-service experiences, and that any barriers to accessing support are addressed.

Amongst the commitments in the strategy are the establishment of a new women veterans’ forum and an oral history project. The forum will ensure that the voices of women veterans inform how government responds to areas significant to their lives. The oral history project will capture the experiences of women veterans, showcasing their role in defence and their contribution to society after service.

Last year, we launched the £50 million VALOUR programme, which will make it easier for all veterans to access the care and support they deserve wherever they live in the UK. The first phase of VALOUR-Recognised Centres will open shortly and the application process for the second round of funding is ongoing. As it develops, we are working hard to ensure that the VALOUR network is inclusive of all veterans’ needs and experiences, including women.

Women are a crucial part of the Armed Forces community, both through the value of their service and their contribution to society as veterans. Engaging and supporting the women who have served in our Armed Forces in East Grinstead and Uckfield and across the country, is an important part of our new Veterans Strategy, to ensure they have access to support that understands their in-service experiences, and that any barriers to accessing support are addressed.

Amongst the commitments in the strategy are the establishment of a new women veterans’ forum and an oral history project. The forum will ensure that the voices of women veterans inform how government responds to areas significant to their lives. The oral history project will capture the experiences of women veterans, showcasing their role in defence and their contribution to society after service.

Last year, we launched the £50 million VALOUR programme, which will make it easier for all veterans to access the care and support they deserve wherever they live in the UK. The first phase of VALOUR-Recognised Centres will open shortly and the application process for the second round of funding is ongoing. As it develops, we are working hard to ensure that the VALOUR network is inclusive of all veterans’ needs and experiences, including women.

Ministers within the Equalities portfolio regularly engage with their counterparts in other Government Departments on a range of matters.

This is in addition to officials within the Office for Equality and Opportunity working closely with those in the Ministry of Defence to ensure that the differing experiences and needs of women and LGBT+ personnel are reflected across their work, including ex-service personnel and veterans.

For example, women are a crucial part of this Government’s new Veterans’ Strategy with commitments including the establishment of a new women veterans’ forum, and an oral history project. Additionally, last year the Government launched the £50 million VALOUR programme, which will make it easier for all veterans to access the care and support they deserve wherever they live in the UK.

The Government has also been clear that historic treatment of LGBT+ veterans was a moral stain on our nation. The Ministry of Defence has already made substantial progress in delivering the Financial Recognition Scheme for veterans who served under, and were impacted by, the Ban on LGBT personnel in the Armed Forces. Decisions have been made on 78% of cases and over £54.6m paid out. We continue to take a proactive approach to ensure all affected veterans are made aware of the Schemes; working with local councils, the NHS, community groups, Veterans’ Commissioners, charities and an external communications specialist.

There are almost one million young people aged 16-24 who are currently not in employment, education or training (NEET). Of this group 448,000 are women.

This government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. We have recently committed a further £1 billion investment in young people, taking total additional investment into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to £2.5 billion over the next three years. This investment will support almost one million young people, including women, and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.

This includes the delivery of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, the expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain, and the introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway in Jobcentres, providing more intensive support to 16–24-year-olds. We will also prioritise prevention – improving support in schools, access to work experience and further education places.

Within the up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, this investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. It will also help unlock up to 200,000 more employment opportunities, through a new £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for employers who hire 18–24-year-olds who have been on Universal Credit for over six months, a new £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for small and medium sized employers hiring 16–24-year-olds and the Jobs Guarantee scheme, providing long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds with a fully funded six month job.

For jobseekers over the age of 24, the Department offers employment support through a range of channels including the Find a Job website, financial support through the Flexible Support Fund to help with interviews or starting work, and tailored flexible support through Jobcentre Plus. Work Coaches offer personalised advice to help individuals secure roles which reflect their skills, qualifications and prior experience, alongside targeted job‑search support. Where appropriate, Work Coaches also identify any skills gaps and signpost jobseekers to relevant training and provision, including Skills Bootcamps, apprenticeships, sector‑based work academy programmes (SWAPs), and free courses for jobs, as well as essential English, maths and digital skills.

This government is committed to reducing regional disparities in the women’s employment rate.

We recognise that women face additional barriers that can compound employment issues – in particular, childcare costs can affect parents’, and disproportionately women’s, decisions to take up paid work or increase their hours. We are taking action to address these barriers including ensuring that eligible Universal Credit claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs, while working parents may access up to 30 hours a week of funded childcare.

For too many people, labour market opportunities are shaped by where they live. Through our Get Britain Working strategy, we are aiming to improve employment outcomes at a national level and reduce regional disparities in unemployment rates for everyone, including women. As a part of this, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new Jobs and Careers Service across Great Britain, bringing together employment, careers and skills. The service will work with local employers and partners to ensure it reflects and addresses the different needs of local labour markets.

We are introducing programmes to tackle region-specific issues. We are delivering Local Get Britain Working plans in all areas of England, which are led by local government and co-developed with local stakeholders, and will identify local labour market challenges and priorities, and support the integration of locally delivered services. We are delivering 17 Economic Inactivity and Youth Guarantee Trailblazers led by Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the Welsh Government which are testing local approaches to support people who are hardest to reach to move towards work.

The government is committed to tackling the challenges women face in the labour market, whether they want to find a job, return to work, or progress in work, regardless of their background or stage of life.  To support this commitment, the Government has appointed Mariella Frostrup as the Women’s Employment Ambassador, building on her work as the Menopause Employment Ambassador over the past 18 months.

The Department offers a range of employment support that women can benefit from. This includes the ‘Find a Job’ website, financial support through the Flexible Support Fund to help with interviews or starting work, and tailored, flexible support through Jobcentre Plus. Alongside targeted job-search support, Work Coaches offer personalised advice to help individuals secure roles which reflect their skills, qualifications and prior experience.

Where appropriate, Work Coaches identify any skills gaps and signpost jobseekers to relevant training and provision, such as Skills Bootcamps, apprenticeships, sector-based work academy programmes, and free courses for jobs, as well as essential English, maths and digital skills.

As set out in the Child Poverty Strategy, the Government recognises that high childcare costs can affect parents’, and disproportionately women’s, decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours.  Eligible UC customers can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month regardless of the number of hours they work. In addition, eligible working parents can also access 30 hours a week of funded childcare through DfE’s Working Parent Entitlement.

From April 2026, employers with 250 or more employees have the option to produce and publish a voluntary action plan alongside their gender pay gap data, setting out how they will address workplace barriers for women.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt. hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Through the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan and the GDS Roadmap for a Modern Digital Government, we are taking a whole‑of‑government approach to expanding access to digital skills and embedding the responsible use of AI across public services.

Together they include the significant £7.5 million upskilling initiative designed to expand access to AI skills for everyone across the economy, including those in the public sector, and the plan for government to lead by example and ensure public sector staff are equipped to use and embed digital and AI‑enabled tools.

Technology should be open to all. That is why DSIT Secretary of State set up a Women in Tech Taskforce. The first meeting was held on Monday 15th December 2025. The Taskforce will examine the systemic barriers that prevent women and other underrepresented groups from entering, progressing, and leading in the tech sector.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

The Government is firmly committed to supporting women to enter, stay and progress in work, tackling gender pay gaps and ensuring women can reach their full potential in the labour market. To help make work pay for mothers in particular, we are improving access to affordable childcare through the Tax-Free Childcare scheme and 30 hours of funded childcare a week.

The Government is committed to supporting young people to earn and learn. That is why we are delivering a Youth Guarantee, backed by £820m over the Spending Review period. This includes providing guaranteed paid work placements to young people on Universal Credit, who are unemployed for over 18 months, granting an opportunity for young people to gain essential skills and experience and prevent the damaging effects of long-term unemployment. The Youth Guarantee will also create nearly 300,000 additional work experience and training opportunities, further expand Youth Hubs to every local area of Great Britain, and increase investment to prevent young people from falling out of education, employment or training in future.

The hon. Lady raises a shocking example. I think I have said this at the Dispatch Box before, but it is one of the most shocking experiences, on coming in as a new Minister, to see the scale and depth of sexual harassment of staff and other women. We have worked hard with staff groups to make sure that that is given primacy in our strategy. I am working with the Minister with responsibility for violence against women and girls—the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips)—and this is part of our attack more generally on misogyny and violence against women. We absolutely recognise that it needs to be resolved.

The government has published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) setting out the impact of maintaining income Tax and equivalent National Insurance contributions thresholds. This includes an equalities assessment which states that individuals may be affected by this measure regardless of their protected characteristics.

The previous Government legislated to maintain personal tax thresholds until April 28. This Government has continued the policy maintaining thresholds to April 31.

Businesses are able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under-21s and under-25 apprentices. This means employers pay no employer NICs for apprentices under 25 or employees under 21 on earnings up to £50,270.

The OBR expect that employment levels will rise in every year of the forecast, and that they will be higher in every year compared to March, reaching 35.5m in 2030-31.

Businesses are able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under-21s and under-25 apprentices. This means employers pay no employer NICs for apprentices under 25 or employees under 21 on earnings up to £50,270.

The OBR expect that employment levels will rise in every year of the forecast, and that they will be higher in every year compared to March, reaching 35.5m in 2030-31.

Since the introduction of full expensing, most businesses now claim first-year allowances, such as full expensing and the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), to claim relief on their investments, with 99% of businesses investing under the AIA’s £1 million threshold. The government has maintained these key reliefs, as well as the low Corporation Tax main rate of 25%.

At Budget, the government announced that it is decreasing the main rate of writing-down allowance by 4ppt to 14% from April 2026. This change allows us to fully fund a new 40% first-year allowance (FYA) while also raising revenue to protect the public finances. This new FYA will allow businesses to deduct much of the cost of their investment in the year they make that investment and lower their tax bill. It will be available for assets bought for leasing and for unincorporated businesses, which do not benefit from full expensing, and broadly preserves the current incentives to invest.

For future investment, the present value and cost of capital for businesses that claim the new first-year allowance remains broadly the same. The expected impacts of this measure, included the equalities impacts, are set out on gov.uk. There are no disproportionate impacts expected on women-led businesses or other protected groups as a result of this measure:

Capital allowances: new first-year allowance and reducing main rate writing-down allowances - GOV.UK

The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.

Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.

A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.

The government has published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) setting out the impact of maintaining income Tax and equivalent National Insurance contributions thresholds.

This policy will affect those aged under 65 from April 2027, but the overall ISA limit will remain at £20,000 for all savers when the annual Cash ISA limit is set at £12,000. It will not affect existing cash ISA savings.

A policy costing note for the package of measures introduced to support savers has been published alongside the Budget, including the changes to the ISA regime.

Following a technical consultation, new ISA regulations will be laid, and a Tax Impact and Information Note will be published.

In addition, HMRC regularly publishes statistics on ISA use online. The average Cash ISA subscription in 2022/23 was £5,296.

Based on available data on current ISA subscriptions from ISA managers, we expect that women make up around 52% of those likely affected by changes to the Cash ISA limit. Women account for 56% of all cash ISA subscribers as of 2022-23. Information on disability is not collected as part of savings statistics.

The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.

Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.

A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.