Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when their response to the consultations on (1) shared parental leave, and (2) carers’ leave, will be published.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to delivering our manifesto commitments to make it easier for fathers to take Paternity Leave and to introduce a new employment right to one week of unpaid leave for carers. Information collected through public consultation will inform policy development in both areas.
We are currently assessing the responses to the consultation on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay. Separate to this, we are also conducting a formal evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme, which has included large-scale, representative, surveys of employers and parents which looked at a broad range of parental leave and pay entitlements.
Together, the consultation and the evaluation will give us a fuller picture of how well the current system of parental leave and pay is working for parents and employers. We intend to publish the Government Response to the consultation and the findings of the evaluation later this year.
The consultation on Carer’s Leave set out detailed policy proposals to create a new employment right for one week’s unpaid leave. The consultation received a significant number of responses, demonstrating the importance of this issue.
The Government response to the consultation will be published in due course, setting out the way forward.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department is making on its consultation on parental leave and pay which closed on 29 November 2019.
Answered by Paul Scully
In 2019, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay and is currently analysing the responses it received. We separately commissioned large scale, representative, surveys of parents and employers to gather further information on the barriers and enablers to employees taking parental leave, including Paternity Leave, and data on how parental entitlements are used in practice.
Information gathered through the consultation and the evaluation of Shared Parental Leave and Pay will inform Government policy on parental leave and pay going forward – including the Manifesto commitment to make it easier for fathers to take Paternity Leave.
The findings of the evaluation and Government Response to the consultation will be published in due course.