Parental Leave Review
Sarah Smith Excerpts(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Justin Madders
The hon. Member raises an important point. The Government have clearly done great work already in expanding the availability of affordable childcare, but there is always more to do. This specifically will not be part of the review, but I can confirm that we will be working with other Departments to see how their input can help to achieve the outcomes we want from the review.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
The fathers who met me in Haslingden will welcome the review and the Minister’s announcement, but in conversations I have had I have been struck by the difficulties faced by some of our public sector workers, with teachers almost forced back perhaps a week—if they had been able to take that—after a holiday period, and police officers facing particular challenges with parental leave and paternity rights. Will the Minister reassure me that those important issues will be squarely within the terms of the review and that he will be looking to make progress on them?
Justin Madders
My hon. Friend raises concerning issues about the culture of some employers who possibly do not see the value of parental and paternity leave. We all know that recruitment and retention is an issue in teaching, and in particular there are not enough male teachers. That is a challenge, and maybe one thing behind that is the cultural shift that we need to see. I am sure that those comments can be fed in.
Paternity Leave and Pay
Sarah Smith Excerpts(8 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Josh Simons (Makerfield) (Lab)
Time and again, my constituents in Makerfield have told me that having a child in this country is too expensive and exhausting. Mums have said that they have been forced out of their job through long maternity leave, and dads have told me that employers have made it impossible for them to spend time with their kids and support their partners. As other Members have said, only when dads take parental leave will we make maternity discrimination a thing of the past, but we also need a deeper cultural shift. As ever, the Tory party is lagging behind our society, as we have seen this week, because thankfully we no longer live in a world where women make the home and men make the money. Men want to be parents. They want to be dads, and to cook and do the washing. They want to hug their kids when they have had a tough day at school, to tear up when they watch a Disney movie, or to laugh with their kids at my best-known constituent, Hacker the dog. In an age when so many young men suffer from mental health problems and feel that they lack purpose in our society, we must talk about what it means to be a man in a way that is in step with the age.
Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that this is about not just all the things he mentions, but the impact on the mental health of the mother?
Josh Simons
I absolutely agree. The support that men can give to their partners is an absolutely vital part of the argument for paternity leave, which is why we need to talk about what it means to be a man in the society that we live in that is in step with the age that we live in. Strength and resilience are qualities that my wife has just as much as me. Care and love are qualities that I have just as much as her. Being a dad is about care, protection and love as well as strength and courage. As men, we must take pride in both.
I very much hope that the Government’s review of parental leave will include paternity as well as maternity leave, and that it will cover pay and duration of leave for employees of firms of all sizes. Every week working parents I represent open the door exhausted and broke, despite loving their kids with all their heart. Better paternity leave is vital to show that we value parenting, kids and family in this country.