Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether their Department offers its staff shared parental leave from their first working day.

To be eligible for shared parental leave in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, each parent must have at least 26 weeks continuous employment with their respective employer by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth or adoption matching date. They must also still be working for the same respective employer (for Civil Servants continuous service applies to other Civil Service employers) when they intend to take the leave.

Some employees could qualify for shared parental leave on their first day of service where they have built up qualifying service in another Civil Service organisation.

As with any changes to employment legislation, internal policies and processes will be updated as appropriate in preparation for when the Employment Rights Bill 2024 comes into effect.