Flick Drummond was elected in 2015 as the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, and she is interested in defence, foreign policy, education and health. She sits on the Women and Equalities Select Committee as well as various APPGs [all party parliamentary groups] covering her interests including co-chairing the Women and Work APPG and chairing the Cybersecurity APPG. Flick has a degree in South East Asian Studies from Hull University and a Masters in International Relations from Southampton University, having worked as an insurance broker, Ofsted lay school inspector and as a member of the Territorial Army Intelligence Corps.
“…We would like more women to contribute to our discussions and they are open to anyone to come and listen or ask questions…”
Flick, please can you tell us about your career to date and what made you want to become an MP?
I became an MP in 2015 after a long time trying to get there – this was my third time of standing. I wanted to become an MP to change the education system. That was a long time ago but there is still plenty to do.
What does your role involve on a day to day basis?
It is a mixture of working in committees and speaking in debates in the House of Commons’ Chamber. There are also constituents’ emails and letters to respond to.
How did you get involved with the Women and Work APPG?
Jess Phillips MP and I are on the Women and Equalities Committee and we felt that there was a need for a group to look in more detail into some of the issues facing women in the work place, so we set it up in January 2016.
Please can you tell us more about the group and its remit?
We are looking at the barriers to women in the workplace and how to improve the lives of women working.
What is the crossover between the role of the Women and Work APPG and the Women and Equalities Committee?
There is crossover in some of the issues but the Government does not have to respond to any inquiries that we might do in the APPG, they do have to respond with action points to any inquiries that the Women and Equalities Committee puts forward.
A report has just been published about the work of the group – what topics does it cover?
This is our first report and we have concentrated on women returning to work and what the issues are in why women are finding it difficult to return to the workplace. You can read it here.
What are the greatest frustrations and opportunities for the group?
We haven’t had any frustrations yet, we are very lucky that there are three women who help us run the group. The opportunities are endless and we have so many ideas that it is going to take us years to get through them. We would like more women to contribute to our discussions and they are open to anyone to come and listen or ask questions.
What are you working on for 2017?
We are looking at sectors where there are few women, especially in the technology sector, and also how automation affects jobs. We are also going to look further at apprenticeships.
https://www.flickdrummond.com/
http://connectpa.co.uk/the-women-and-work-all-party-parliamentary-group/
https://twitter.com/womenworkappg
