§ 17. Mr. Ben Chapman (Wirral, South)If she will make a statement on maternity provision for working women. [130835]
§ The Minister for Women and Equality (Ms Patricia Hewitt)Maternity leave and pay were increased in April 2003 as part of our new measures to help parents balance work and family life. All mothers can take 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave, and maternity payment has been increased to £100 a week. Because we have reduced the qualifying service for additional maternity leave, most mothers can also now choose to take up to one year off work in total.
§ Mr. ChapmanIt has been argued that the proposals introduced by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to expand and standardise the provision of IVF in the national health service would help those women who choose to start a family after establishing their career. What is my right hon. Friend's view of the belief that IVF facilities could be of value in achieving equality in the workplace?
§ Ms HewittMy hon. Friend makes an important point. Clearly more women are choosing to postpone having a family, then sometimes discovering that they have an unexpected and extremely distressing problem of infertility. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and his colleagues are currently looking at NICE's draft proposals, and we at the DTI will continue to do everything that we can to support parents in balancing their work and family life.
§ Mrs. Caroline Spelman (Meriden)First, I wish the Minister a speedy recovery from what sounds like the Cancun cold.
Women returning to work after having a baby need to be able to achieve a good work/life balance. Six months ago, the Government launched an initiative to give parents with a child under the age of six the right to demand flexible hours. However, in a recent survey by KPMG, it was discovered that only one in 1,300 workers had taken advantage of those new laws. Can the Minister explain why the uptake is so poor?
§ Ms HewittWe are working closely with employers and trade unions to ensure that parents know their new 1068 rights and can take advantage of them, but the low take-up so far partly reflects the fact that the new rights have been in effect for only a couple of months, and the fact that, particularly in the public sector, but also in a growing number of private sector companies, a great deal of flexibility is already available. What we have done through the new legal measures is to strengthen the changes that are already taking place. We will go on doing everything we can—with the hon. Lady's support, I hope—to ensure that parents working in companies that do not yet offer those benefits of flexibility feel empowered to take up the new rights we have given them—against, I recall, the opposition of the Conservative party.
§ Sandra Gidley (Romsey)Is the Minister aware that despite the increase earlier this year, a survey of 60 countries showed that maternity pay in the UK is in the bottom quarter, and that a woman living in the UK and earning £15,000 a year would receive £2,458 over six months, which is just over half the EU average of £4,198? When does she expect the levels in the UK to reach the EU average?
§ Ms HewittWe have taken an enormous step forward in increasing levels of maternity pay and increasing the right of women to take maternity leave. In addition, we have introduced for the first time ever two weeks' paid paternity leave for new fathers. I note that the Liberal Democrats want to increase public spending. No doubt they will publish proposals for increased taxation to match that.