Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department has taken to improve parental rights for workers in the North East.

Through the Employment Rights Bill, we are strengthening rights for parents by making Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights for qualifying employees, removing restrictions on taking Paternity Leave after Shared Parental Leave, strengthening flexible working rights, and bolstering protections for new and expectant mothers. On 1 July we launched the Parental Leave Review which will consider how parental leave can better reflect modern work and childcare realities and support working families.