I have had no recent discussions with the Secretaries of State for Education, for Health and for Trade and Industry on the introduction of family friendly policies.
Government are committed to giving children the best start in life, to enable all families to have genuine choices about how they balance their work and family responsibilities and to help business to recruit and retain the best people.
Since 2003, parents of children under the age of six and disabled children have had the right to request flexible working. The Work and Families Act 2006 builds on this further by establishing a balanced package of rights and responsibilities, for both employers and employees, in line with the Government’s better regulation agenda. Some of the measures within the Act include extending the right to request flexible working to the carers of adults, extending the period for payment of Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and Statutory Adoption Pay to a maximum of 52 weeks and giving fathers and new right to an additional period of paternity leave.