§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the President of the Board of Trade 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. [1278]
Mr. John M. Taylor[holding answer 4 November 1996]: Although the civil service collects statistical information on staff employed in Government Departments and executive agencies, we do not collect information on the parental status of individual staff. It would be inappropriate for us to request this information from staff and difficult to justify the collection of such 449W data. The Department provides some assistance with child care, but is unable to monitor what proportion of staff who are parents have received such assistance.
I have asked the chief executive of the DTI's executive agencies to respond direct to the hon. Member.
Letter from John S. Holden to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:
I have been asked to reply as Chief Executive of Companies House Executive Agency to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question for the President of the Board of Trade, asking about the provision of childcare assistance for mothers and fathers within DTI.Companies House operates a holiday playscheme in Cardiff during the Easter and summer school holidays. During last Easter and this summer, 12 mothers and 5 fathers, and 27 mothers and 3 fathers, respectively, made use of this facility.Companies House does not keep information on which members of staff are parents. It is therefore, not possible to provide you with the proportions of staff the above figures represent.Letter from Zèlie Armstrong to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:
The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your question about the number of women and men who are parents and receive help with childcare from this Agency. NWML contributes towards the management of a joint nursery at Teddington. The facility is available to all staff who wish to use it.Letter from Peter Joyce to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:
The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your question about what proportion of women who are mothers and men who are fathers who are employed by The Insolvency Service have received any assistance from the Service with childcare.The Insolvency Service does not collect statistics specifically showing the parental status of staff. This is personal information which would be supplied by members of staff on a voluntary basis and it would be difficult to justify the formal collection of such data. I am therefore unable to give an overall accurate assessment as requested.The Service provides a facility whereby members of staff may apply for reimbursement of additional childcare costs incurred as a result of a temporary change to their working routine, or if they are attending Insolvency Service training courses. However such claims are not separately recorded. Staff who have domestic responsibilities involving childcare may also apply for periods of special leave without pay or for a career break—although this is not financial assistance.Letter from Jim Norton to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:
I have been asked to answer the question you raised on behalf of the Radiocommunications Agency.The Radiocommunications Agency does not keep records of what proportion of the (a) women who are mothers and (b) men who are fathers.Two members of staff took advantage of the DTI playscheme.Letter from Paul Hartnack to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:
I am replying for the Patent Office to your Parliamentary Question to the President of the Board of Trade about childcare.I am unable to give you information about the proportion of staff who are parents since the Patent Office does not have this information readily available and could generate it only at disproportionate cost. The Patent Office is, however, sensitive to the needs of parents and has obtained access to a number of places in an on site nursery. We also operate a holiday play scheme during the Easter and summer periods. Both the nursery and play schemes 450W are subsidised by the Patent Office. The Patent Office is also sympathetic to requests for special leave without pay to allow parents to be with their children during school holidays and to requests for special leave with pay to meet short term domestic needs.The figures on usage for the nursery and play schemes are detailed below for the last 3 years:
Nursery Playscheme Male Number Female Number Male Number Female Number Easter Summer Easter Summer 1994 2 6 4 4 5 8 1995 2 8 3 4 4 6 1996 2 7 1 3 4 4 I hope this information is useful.