HC Deb 28 May 2004 vol 422 cc104-5W
Mr. Benton

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many and what percentage of women in Bootle have taker, 26 weeks' maternity leave since 1997. [176528]

Mr. Sutcliffe

Take-up of maternity leave is not recorded centrally. It is possible to make an estimate of the numbers of women taking maternity leave based on employer returns to Inland Revenue of the Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) they recover (since 2003 this has covered the first 26 weeks of leave). Figures for the take-up of SMP are not available on a regional basis, but nationally around 300,000 women receive SMP each year.

In addition, there will be some women who will qualify for maternity leave but not SMP (because they do not meet the earnings or length of employment criteria for SMP) and similarly some who qualify for SMP but not leave (because they are employed earners for the purposes of SMP but not employees in order to qualify for' leave).

Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what mechanism her Department has put in place to assess the take-up by fathers of their statutory right to paid paternity leave since 6 April 2003; what targets for take-up have been set; and how much has been spent informing fathers of their new rights. [176561]

Mr. Sutcliffe

Employers will notify the Inland Revenue of the numbers of employees who have received Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) in their annual returns for the 2003–04 tax year. No targets for take-up of paternity leave have been set, although our Regulatory Impact Assessment costed the measure on the basis of 70 per cent. take-up of the two-week entitlement.

In the 12 months following implementation the Department spent £1.5 million on an awareness raising campaign promoting the new laws for working parents, which included maternity leave and pay, adoption leave and pay, and the right to request flexible working as well as fathers' rights to paternity leave and SPP. We have also provided support worth £50,000 to the charity Fathers Direct for their pilot magazine aimed at new fathers—Dad', launched in five different maternity units in April 2003 which included information on their new right to paid paternity leave.