Business of the House

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I applaud what my hon. Friend says. It is indeed the Government’s policy to move towards more flexible parental leave so that parents can share caring responsibilities. We are working with businesses to create a more flexible system of parental leave. Under our proposals, parents will be given the choice to determine how they take leave for child care. They will be able to divide the majority of the leave into blocks to suit their work needs, and to split leave between them. I hope that will remove some of the barriers to which my hon. Friend refers.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Last year, I raised with the Leader of the House the tragic case of Joe Arthur, my constituent who was killed while on holiday in Greece in 2006, and the family’s fight for justice. This week, the family have again been out to Greece, and yet again the trial has stalled. Will the Leader of the House arrange for me to meet urgently a Foreign Office Minister to discuss what further assistance can be offered to the family, because that situation simply cannot be allowed to continue?

[Sir George Young]

I am very sorry to hear of the problems that confront the hon. Lady’s constituents. It so happens that a constituent of mine was killed in Greece last year, and their family is having exactly the same problems of finding out when the trial is to be held and what status and role they will have in the proceedings. I will raise the matter with a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister and ask him to contact her and see what assistance we can give to the family in the tragic circumstances she has just mentioned.