§ 24. Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how she proposes to bring the family perspective and family life cycle into social and economic policy making.
§ Mr. YeoThe Government recognise the importance of the family both in terms of its individual members and as providing the best environment for the upbringing of children. The objective of our policies is to advise, help and support families rather than to replace their traditional role with professional services. In health, the Government fully support and are implementing the EC recommendation on childcare whose focus includes leave arrangements for working parents and the equitable sharing of parental responsibilities. The NHS has taken a leading role in implementing "Opportunity 2000" which will increase the quality and extent of women's participation in the 83W workplace and the Department of Health is considering with voluntary organisations ways in which the United Nations International Year of the Family in 1994 might be marked in the United Kingdom.