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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 27 July 2022 to Question 39891 on Adoption: Self-employed, and with reference to the Explanatory Notes to the Employment Act 2002, whether it remains his Department's policy that paid adoption leave (a) provides time for the adoptive child and parent to adjust to their new relationships and (b) helps reduce the number of disrupted placements; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending eligibility to statutory maternity allowance to self-employed adopters.

The Government recognises that it is crucial to the success of an adoption placement that an adopter takes time off work to care for and bond with their child. That is why employed adoptive parents have broadly the same rights and protections as birth parents.

We do not have any data on the number of disrupted early placements. Adoption disruption is rare and research in 2014 (Beyond the Adoption Order) suggested that any disruptions happen at a later stage, years after the adoption order has been made.

Maternity Allowance is primarily a health and safety provision intended to support women who have recently given birth to take time off to recover physically from their pregnancy and childbirth. It would therefore not be appropriate to extend this to self-employed adopters.