Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has in the forthcoming employment bill to include flexible working as standard; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect on that matter on levels of work life balance.

In the Queens’ Speech, we announced that we will bring forward measures to deliver on a range of Manifesto commitments.

Our legislation will promote fairness in the workplace by striking the right balance between the flexibility that the economy needs and the security that workers deserve. In our manifesto, we committed to encouraging flexible working and consulting on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to.

It is important that we work closely with stakeholders to make sure we get the legislation right, and we will bring forward details of the Employment Bill in due course.

The Government is clear about the benefits of flexible working for employees wishing to balance their working lives with their personal lives. Since 2014, all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service have had the Right to Request Flexible Working. We are currently evaluating how effective those regulations have been.