LIB DEMS DEMAND GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS WOMEN IN SCIENCE (Alison McInnes)

Alison McInnes <info@alisonmcinnes.co.uk>

LIB DEMS DEMAND GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS WOMEN IN SCIENCE

November 27, 2008 1:30 PM

Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes has written to the Education Secretary demanding to know what action the Government is taking to improve the participation and position of women in the science, engineering and technology (SET) sectors.

Mrs McInnes challenged the Education Secretary after a statement to Parliament on a Framework for Science in Scotland.

Commenting after the statement, Mrs McInnes said:

"The Education Secretary completely failed to answer my question. Half a million women in the UK are qualified in either science or technology but less than a third work in those sectors. All of these sectors are suffering a severe skills shortage, which is set to get worse in the coming decades.

"This is bad for the country's productivity and competitiveness. It is unacceptable that the Minister dodged answering my question.

"I am writing to the Education Secretary to find out why the Government's strategy is silent on this gender imbalance. We need to know what action the Government will take to improve the participation and position of women in these sectors."

Ends.