§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many and what percentage of working parents requesting(a) flexible working and (b) adoption leave since April 2003 were women. [150347]
§ Mr. SutcliffeThere are no requirements to notify DTI people on the number of men or women who have requested flexible working or adoption leave since April 2003.
The preliminary findings of the 2003 DTI Work-Life Balance Survey of employees suggest that one in six employees (17 per cent.) had approached their employer 303W (in the previous two years) to make a request to change how they regularly work for a sustained period of time. These requests were most likely to be made by women, mothers, parents whose youngest child was under two-years-old and those in services and sales, and least likely by older employees (45 + years) and full-time workers.
As part of the Department's monitoring of the new laws for working parents it is collecting evidence from number of sources to build up a picture of the demand and uptake, of flexible working.
The Department has commissioned questions on the take-up of flexible working which currently appear in the Office for National Statistics Omnibus Survey. The results of these will be available in spring 2004. In addition the Department is working with key intermediaries, such as Working Families and Maternity Alliance who are collating data through member/ support surveys, to obtain qualitative evidence to support the quantitative research under way.
There are less than 4,000 adoptions a year and given that statutory adoption leave was introduced only in April 2003 it is far too early to make any assessment of take-up.