Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Newton Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

There have been cuts in all budgets. The EHRC will probably concentrate on its core functions, and I expect its budget to be sufficient to enable it to deliver the equality that we all require from it.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

4. What discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on proposals to extend flexible working arrangements in the public sector.

[The Minister for Equalities (Lynne Featherstone)]

I have had several discussions with colleagues on how we can implement our commitment to extending the right to request flexible working to all. That, of course, includes those in the public sector, which has a long and successful track record in this regard. In my Department, for example, 57% of staff work flexibly, and all vacancies are advertised as being available on a flexible basis. We will seek to share that and other good practice in the public sector more widely.

[Sarah Newton]

Flexible working enabled me to balance caring for my husband and children with working. Without that opportunity, I probably would not be standing here today. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government’s plan to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees is the most progressive measure to encourage a culture of flexible working that any Government have yet been able to promise?

[Lynne Featherstone]

Hear, hear. I am glad to learn that flexible working has been an enabler in my hon. Friend’s life, as it will be in so many other lives. Flexible working and the right to extend it to all will enable businesses to draw on all the skills and talents in the country, and on a wider pool of skill. It will improve recruitment and retention rates and increase staff morale and productivity, and we will all gain from that.