§ Mr. BestTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the impact of family friendly employment laws in the past 12 months. [170286]
1637W
§ Mr. SutcliffeThe DTI has collected evidence from a number of sources to help in assessing the impact of the new employment laws which came into force in April 2003.
Between December 2002 and April 2003 fieldwork was carried out for two DTI Work-Life Balance studies. Data was collected from employers and employees to provide a baseline for future evaluation of the impact of the new flexible working law. Details of the results can be found at www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar.
In the first six months after implementation, CIPD and Lovells conducted research into flexible working which indicated that over a quarter (28 per cent) of employers had seen an increase in the total number of requests since April 2003. Seven in ten of the employers surveyed said they were willing to consider flexible working requests from all staff—not just those with children under six. 68 per cent. of employers believed that the opportunity to work flexibly had a positive effect on employee attitudes and morale. Full results are at www.cipd.co.uk.
The Department commissioned questions on flexible working over a number of months in the Office of National Statistics Omnibus survey. The data was collected between September 2003 and February 2004. The results demonstrated that in the last year, around 900,000 parents have asked for a change in their working hours, equating to a quarter of all parents with children under six.
Eight out ten often (77 per cent.) of those requests were granted in full, with a further one in ten (nine per cent.) partly accepted, or a compromise reached.
Since April 2003, the proportion of flexible working requests being declined has nearly halved—from 20 per cent. before April 2003 to 11 per cent. after, which suggests that the regulations have increased employers' willingness to consider requests seriously. The full report is available at www.dti.gov.uk/er/inform.htm.
Data on the impact of the changes to maternity pay and leave, as well as paternity and adoption pay and leave will become available in the summer, extracted from PAYE returns to Inland Revenue due in May.
The Department continues to work with key intermediaries, such as Working Families and Maternity Alliance, to gather evidence through member/supporter surveys. It has also organised a series of roundtable events, currently being held around the country, which are engaging with parents and employers directly. The findings from this ongoing work will feed into the evidence base for a review of the impact of the legislation in 2006.