HC Deb 16 March 2004 vol 419 cc179-80W
Julie Morgan

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the number of requests for flexible working following the birth of a child that were received in the six months following the April 2003 implementation of the flexible working legislation; and what proportion of these requests were granted. [161460]

Mr. Sutcliffe

The Government have commissioned questions in the monthly Office for National Statistics Omnibus Survey to help make an assessment of the number of flexible working requests in the first year of the new flexible working law coming into effect. The results should be published shortly.

Last October the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Lovells published the results of a survey looking at the impact of the new law in its first six months and reported: Over a quarter (28 per cent.) of employers have seen an increase in the total number of requests for flexible working since the right was introduced in April 2003. Of those organisations that have received statutory requests since then, nearly two-thirds (62 per cent.) have approved at least half of all such requests, either in the form submitted by the employee or in modified form. A large majority of employers say they generally have little difficulty with the new right—76 per cent. say that the impact of the legislation on their organisation has been negligible and 90 per cent. report no significant problems complying with the new requirements.

Answers to common questions put to advisers on the ACAS helpline during the first six months of the law being into effect are available on the DTI's website at www.dti.gov.uk/er/flexible.htm.

Julie Morgan

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to extend the right to request flexible working to carers of elderly and disabled people. [161466]

Mr. Sutcliffe

The right to request flexible working and duty on employers to consider such requests seriously is already wider in scope for parents of disabled children, who can make a request up to their child's 18th birthday. For other parents, the right applies while their children are under six.

The Government are committed to commencing a review of the law in 2006. Issues such as whether it is appropriate to extend its scope, and to whom, could be considered at this time.

The Government's Work-Life Balance Campaign seeks to persuade employers of the benefits of adopting work-life balance policies and to offer these opportunities to all employees to help meet caring responsibilities, as well as pursue personal interests, wherever it makes business sense.