§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many men have(a) requested and (b) received paternity leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child born, matched or placed after 6 April 2003; and if she will make a statement on the success of the take-up of this entitlement; [169298]
(2) how many women have (a) requested and (b) received maternity leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child born after 6 April 2003; and if she will make a statement on the success of the take-up of this entitlement. [169300]
§ Mr. Sutcliffe[holding answer 29 April 2004]: Take-up of paternity, maternity and adoption leave is not recorded centrally. It is possible to make an estimate of the numbers of mothers taking maternity leave based on employer returns to Inland Revenue for payment of Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) which show that around 300,000 women receive SMP each year.
1643WIn addition, there will be some women who will qualify for maternity leave but not SMP (because they do not meet the earnings criteria) and similarly some who qualify for SMP but not leave (because they are employed earners for the purposes of SMP but not employees in order to qualify for leave).
It will similarly be possible to estimate the numbers of parents taking paternity or adoption leave based on employer returns to Inland Revenue for payment of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) and Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP). Those returns are not due until 19 May 2004 and until the Inland Revenue complete processing them later in the year it will not be possible to provide the figures requested.