Laws needed to protect women

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak has called on ministers to bring in new laws to protect women at work. Recent reports, including a survey on sexual misconduct in surgery that found a third of NHS women surgical staff had been sexually assaulted by colleagues in the past five years, reveal the extent of sexual harassment.

Ministers had promised to bring in a new law to put the onus on employers keep their staff safe from abuse. But Nowak said they had “backtracked ... and watered down the legislation”.

The Worker Protection Bill, sponsored by Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse, has been heavily diluted and no longer contains a duty on employers to protect staff from third party harassment — including sexual harassment — from third parties such as customers and patients.