§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of the(a) women who are mothers and (b) men who are fathers who are employed by his Department have received assistance from the Department with child care. [1292]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe Scottish Office operates a number of family-friendly working practices that indirectly assist staff with child care. These include the provision of two contracted workplace nurseries, flexible working hours, alternative working patterns, maternity-paternity leave and paid-unpaid special leave. We do not hold statistics on the total number of mothers or fathers who have benefited from these arrangements.