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Employment Act

Volume 448: debated on Wednesday 5 July 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many requests for flexible working have been made in each region since the relevant provisions of the Employment Act 2002 came into force; and how many were granted. (82605)

The table shows the proportion of employees who have requested to work flexibly and the resulting acceptance rate, for each region/nation in Great Britain. These figures are from the second Flexible Working Survey (2005).

The new employment rights introduced on 6 April 2003 gave parents of children under six and disabled children under 18 the right to request flexible working. It is not known how many employees have requested flexible working since the right was introduced. The second Flexible Working Survey was conducted in January 2005 and respondents were asked to consider their last two years of employment.

Employee requests to work flexibly over last two years (percentage)

Nation and region

Employee requests for flexible working

Acceptance (fully and partially)

Great Britain

14

81

England

14

80

North East

13

1

North West

13

88

Yorkshire and the Humber

12

69

East Midlands

16

82

West Midlands

10

79

East of England

1

1

London

15

81

South East

14

82

South West

17

79

Wales

14

1

Scotland

12

87

1 Reliable figures are not available due to small sample sizes. Source: Second Flexible Working Employee Survey 2005