March 2025

• Our detailed response to the Bertin Review, in which we drew on the experiences shared by Women with direct experience of the industry, and we continue to push for them to be consulted in any further reviews. We welcome the Review and its recommendations and are reassured to see the Government recognise the urgent need to tackle the harms of pornography. However, we are clear there is no such thing as ‘safe’ pornography and more needs to be done to protect and support women and girls who are harmed by pornography. Read our detailed response here.

June 2025

• We spoke to women across the UK with disabilities or caring responsibilities about the Government’s welfare reform proposals as outlined in the Department for Work and Pensions’ Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper. Read our statement here and the full response here. Submitted 30th June 2025.

• Our response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) Code of practice for services, public functions and associations: consultation 2025. The consultation aimed to gather feedback on changes the EHRC made following the UK Supreme Court ruling on 16 April 2025 in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers (For Women Scotland), which found that the definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex. Read our full response here. Submitted 30th June 2025.

• Critical protections for women are too often unconsidered and failing in their purpose. We responded to the Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO)’s Equality Law Call for Evidence to raise the alarm that the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is failing women. The OEO is interested in whether non-public bodies exercising public functions are meeting their obligations under the PSED. However, this narrow focus misses a more fundamental opportunity. Read our statement here and our full response here. Submitted 30th June 2025.

FiLiA's campaigns and policy team, which includes the FiLiA Women’s Assembly, is working to support women to get their voices heard by local and national policy makers and decision makers. Here we will share consultations, calls for evidence and other opportunities which may be of particular interest to women, and where it will be important for policy makers to hear from women on their experiences and their perspectives:

• This consultation covers a range of proposals relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales. Much of this consultation focuses on equal access to the scheme and its benefits. Ends: 7th August 2025. Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales – GOV.UK 

• The Welsh Government is consulting on their Draft Disabled People’s Rights Plan, which includes several topics within the following themes: Neighbourhoods and places, Employment, income and education, Independent living and Justice and supporting environments.
  Ends: 7th August 2025. Draft Disabled People’s Rights Plan – GOV.WALES

• The Health and Social Care Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the role of physical activity in improving the health and wellbeing of older people. This will focus on the ways that physical activity can prevent ill health and reduce the life expectancy gap between regions.
  Ends: 7th August 2025. Healthy Ageing: physical activity in an ageing society – Committees – UK Parliament

• The UK government has launched a consultation on a package of changes to improve the current NHS dental contract. The aim is to provide more urgent dental care appointments and encourage the delivery of more preventative care. Ends: 19th August 2025. NHS dentistry contract: quality and payment reforms – GOV.UK

• The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business and Trade are inviting views and evidence on the proposed set of objectives for the parental leave and pay system, which include maternal health, economic growth, best start in life and childcare.
  Ends: 25th August 2025. Parental leave and pay review: call for evidence – GOV.UK

• The UK Parliament’s Human Rights Committee is calling for evidence to inform their inquiry into the human rights of children in the English social care system. The scope of the inquiry will include the availability of additional support to families with disabled children and the efficacy of early intervention measures. Ends: 25th August 2025. Human Rights of Children in the Social Care System in England – UK Parliament

• The Health and Social Care Committee is calling for evidence to support its inquiry into food and weight management, including treatments for obesity. The Committee will look at the effectiveness of public health interventions, current prescribing trends and why existing policies have seemingly not succeeded in reducing obesity. Ends: 28th August 2025. Food and Weight Management – Committees – UK Parliament

• The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee is calling for evidence to help with its inquiry into the affordability of home ownership. This will consider the challenges faced by first-time buyers and those on lower incomes. Ends: 29th August 2025. Affordability of Home Ownership – Committees – UK Parliament

• The Culture, Media and Sport Parliamentary Committee is calling for evidence to inform its inquiry into children’s TV and video content.
  This will include issues relating to parental control of online content. Ends: 4th September 2025. Children's TV and video content – Committees – UK Parliament

• The Criminal Justice Committee is seeking views on a proposal by Ash Regan MSP for a new law about prostitution in Scotland, to inform the Committee’s scrutiny. The Bill would create a new offence of paying for sexual acts, aimed at those who seek to buy sexual services.
  Ends: 5th September 2025. Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill | Scottish Parliament Website

• The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is gathering feedback and comments on a new international guideline for the appropriate inclusion and/or retention of pregnant and/or breast-feeding women in clinical trials of medicines. Ends: 5th September 2025. Consultation on the ICH E21 Guideline on the Inclusion of Pregnant and Breast-feeding Women in Clinical Trials – GOV.UK

• This consultation aims to update the Decent Homes Standard which currently applies to social housing. The new standard will also apply to privately rented housing. The reformed Decent Homes Standard will set out clearly what tenants should expect from their landlords and when it will be implemented. Ends: 10th September 2025. Consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes – GOV.UK

• The Scotland Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee is seeking views on a proposed new law called the Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill. This includes a range of measures aimed at strengthening legal recourse and protection of women experiencing abuse.
  Ends: 15th September 2025. Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill – Scottish Parliament

• The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are proposing changes to the way government allocates funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant to local authorities in England. Responses from organisations and individuals with an interest are being sought.
  Ends: 16th September 2025. Changing the way government allocates Disabled Facilities Grant funding to local authorities in England – GOV.UK

• The UK Government’s Online Procedure Rule Committee is seeking views on their draft inclusion framework and pre-action model. This looks to improve digital access to justice in civil, family, and tribunal proceedings. Ends: 19th September 2025. Digital justice system: inclusion framework and pre-action model – GOV.UK

• The Work and Pensions Committee of the UK Parliament is calling for evidence to help with their new inquiry into employment support for disabled people. This inquiry will explore the reasons behind the disability employment gap and recommend improvements.
  Ends: 29th September 2025. Employment support for disabled people – Committees – UK Parliament

• Inquiry: Reproductive health conditions: girls and young women. The Women and Equalities Committee is following up its previous work on women’s reproductive health, with a focus on better meeting the needs of girls and young women. It is assessing progress in diagnoses, treatments and pain management of conditions including endometriosis, adenomyosis and heavy menstrual bleeding.
  Ends: 30th September 2025. Reproductive health conditions: girls and young women – Committees – UK Parliament

• Open call for evidence: Identification of victims of modern slavery. This call for evidence is an important step towards longer-term reforms of the modern slavery identification system (National Referral Mechanism/NRM). The UK Home Office is interested in hearing from a wide range of different groups about ways that the UK can have a more effective identification system for victims of modern slavery, where victims are recognised early and accurately so they can be protected and provided with appropriate assistance and support towards their recovery from exploitation. Ends: 8th October 2025. Open call for evidence: Identification of victims of modern slavery – UK Home Office

• The Welsh Government have launched a consultation on their strategy to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse and are now seeking views from the public. Ends: 8th October 2025. National strategy for preventing and responding to child sexual abuse – GOV.WALES

• The Scottish Government is seeking views on student support available for further education (FE) and higher education (HE) part-time and distance study; and on the support available for full-time and part-time disabled students undertaking FE and HE study.
  Ends: 9th October 2025. Support for part-time study and disabled students: Survey for students, potential students, parents and carers – Scottish Government

• The Public Accounts Committee are calling for evidence to help with their inquiry into home to school transport. This follows on from their report published earlier this year that found that the lack of state school capacity for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is causing longer travel distances to suitable schools. Closing date to be confirmed. Home-to-school transport – Committees – UK Parliament

• The Public Accounts Committee have also opened an inquiry into the financial sustainability of children’s homes. The committee will look at the causes of rising costs and the suitability of settings for children and are seeking feedback to inform their investigation. Closing date to be confirmed. Financial sustainability of children’s care homes – Committees – UK Parliament

• A further call for evidence has come from the Public Accounts Committee to inform their inquiry into the financial sustainability of hospices. This is in response to the reported financial pressures being experienced by adult hospices and the threat to services. Closing date to be confirmed. Financial sustainability of adult hospices in England – Committees – UK Parliament