Parental Leave: Low Incomes Mr. Heald To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate his Department has made of the length of (a) paternity leave and (b) maternity leave taken by people from low-income families in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. Mr. McFadden The most recent data available on take-up of maternity and paternity leave is from the Maternity and Paternity Rights and Benefits: Survey of Parents 2005. The report of findings is available at the House of Commons Library and at www.berr.gov.uk/files/file27446.pdf. Statistics in this report are based on responses from a sample of mothers and fathers who had a child in December 2003 who were surveyed approximately 17 months after the child’s birth. Estimates of duration of paternity leave and maternity leave have not been analysed for low-income families. Duration of paternity leave has been analysed by fathers’ income. The following table, an excerpt of table 9.1 in the cited report, shows duration of paternity leave split by fathers’ income (figures are percentages). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Income (£/month)|No paternity leave|Less than two weeks|Two weeks|More than two weeks| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |0 to 999 |34 |27 |28 |11 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1,000 to 1,999 |16 |32 |37 |15 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2,000 to 2,999 |22 |37 |31 |11 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3,000 + |21 |35 |36 |9 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duration of maternity leave has been analysed by mothers’ income. Table 3.1a of the cited report, shows duration of maternity leave, paid and unpaid, split by hourly pay band. Analysis of this data is presented on pages 28 to 29 of the cited report. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Income (£/hour)|Less than 26 weeks maternity leave|26 weeks maternity leave|27 to 51 weeks maternity leave|52 weeks + maternity leave| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |O to five |14 |64 |11 |10 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Six to eight |10 |57 |18 |14 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Nine to 11 |12 |42 |24 |21 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |12 to 14 |14 |33 |35 |17 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |15 to 19 |17 |32 |32 |19 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |20 + |19 |30 |30 |21 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------