Political Monitor

Excerpt from Political Monitor for APSCO for the week 24/5/2010

What's being said in Parliament

Written Question: Working Hours, EU Law

Lisa Nandy, Labour: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to seek any amendment to the EU Working Time Directive.

Ed Davey, Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs: The coalition agreement made clear the Government's commitment to limit the application of the working time directive in the UK. In that context the Government were pleased to note the emphasis in the European Commission's recent consultation document on the need to consider adapting the legislation in order to better meet the needs of 21st century labour markets. We will be happy to work with them and other member states on this with a view in particular to resolving the problems caused by the SiMap/Jaeger Judgments on on-call time and compensatory rest.

But it will remain an absolute red line that we retain at least the level of flexibility provided by the individual opt-our from the 48-hour week. The opt-out gives people crucial flexibility and choice over their working hours. Millions of people are better off because of that choice.

Written Question: Employment Agencies: EU Law

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to seek any amendment to the EU Agency Workers Directive.

Ed Davey: The agency workers directive was proposed by the European Commission in 2002, it was finally adopted by the European Council of Ministers in June 2008 and by the European Parliament in October 2008.

The final version of the directive was published in December 2008 and has to be implemented by all member states into national law by December 2011. Therefore we do not intend to seek any amendment as the directive has already been finalised.

The directive does foresee a review by the European Commission in December 2013 in consultation with member states and social partners at European level to review the application of the directive. This may result in proposals for amendments. This is normal practice for similar directives.

Oral Questions: Parental Leave

Julian Smith, Conservative: What recent discussions she has had on plans to reform arrangements for parental leave; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa May, Home Secretary: I have had several discussions with Cabinet colleagues and these will continue. We are committed to encouraging the involvement of both parents from the earliest stages of pregnancy, including the promotion of a system of flexible parental leave. Indeed, as we speak my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is making a speech on families and family policy in which he will confirm this commitment.

Julian Smith: May I urge my right hon. Friend to consider the needs of and challenges faced by small business employers as well as employees as she develops this legislation?

Theresa May: I can confirm that we will do that. I am conscious that it is important that we ensure that business is consulted when we are introducing such changes to ensure that we can introduce them in as bureaucratically and administratively light a way as possible so that the impact on small businesses is not too great. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will announce this morning that the childhood and families taskforce that he is setting up will consider this matter and consult on how to put it into place.

Denis MacShane: Has the Home Secretary had a chance to read the Prime Minister's excellent article in the Financial Times in which he says that the priority for Europe must be full equality in the workplace. I welcome that. Is the Cabinet a workplace and when will half of it consist of women?

Theresa May: That was a somewhat disappointing question from the right hon. Gentleman. As he will know, the proportion of women who are full members of the Cabinet under the coalition Government is exactly the same as the proportion of women who were full members of the Cabinet under the Labour Government.

Oral Questions: Flexible Working

Karen Lumley, Conservative: What recent assessment she has made of the effects of flexible working arrangements on gender equality in the workplace.

Theresa May, Home Secretary: I thank my hon. Friend for her question. Flexible working is positive for businesses because it helps them keep valued members of staff. The evidence is clear that flexible working arrangements benefit women, by helping them to balance their caring responsibilities. The coalition Government are united on extending the right to request flexible working; indeed, we have a commitment to do so in the coalition agreement. We will launch a consultation with business at the earliest opportunity.

Karen Lumley: Will my right hon. Friend comment on what wider social benefits the Government believe will result from the extension of flexible working rights?

Theresa May: I am happy to do so, although we should make more of the fact that there are considerable benefits to businesses in providing flexible working, including keeping valued members of staff, attracting members of staff and being able to dip into the widest possible pool of talent. There are enormous social benefits for families when both women and men
can better balance their home and work responsibilities through flexible working arrangements. We have seen that already. There are enormous benefits for children when parents are able to spend more time with them.

Liz Kendall, Labour: Will the Minister consider looking at the experience of countries such as Norway and Sweden where, as part of promoting greater flexibility and general equality, the Governments have introduced a whole month of parental leave that fathers have to take. This has increased the number of men taking parental leave and helped promote greater equality in the workplace. Will she consider that as the Government look at their reform of parental leave?

Theresa May: I welcome the hon. Lady to the House. The proposals that we put forward in Opposition on flexible parental leave-we are now looking at how we take those forward and improve the arrangements for parents and maternity leave-gave a better offer to men than the one month's paternity leave that she quotes from Norway. It enabled couples to decide who would take the leave that was available and stay at home with the baby after it was born. So I think we can offer fathers and mothers a better opportunity than the hon. Lady suggests.

Written Question: Maternity Leave

David Hamilton, Labour: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of women who took paid maternity leave in the last five years for which figures are available; what the average number of weeks paid maternity leave was in each such year; and what the average payment was in each such year.

Chris Grayling, Minister of State for Employment: The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance. The Department's estimate of the numbers of women who received these payments for each of the last five years is outlined below:

Estimated numbers of women receiving statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance since 2005-06:

2005-06     360,000
2006-07     370,000
2007-08     390,000
2008-09     390,000
2009-10     400,000

Note: Data are based on estimated numbers of starts or new cases in Great Britain. Source: Department for Work and Pensions data.

It should be noted that these figures are likely to be an underestimate of the numbers of women who took paid maternity leave. Some women may have received paid maternity leave via occupational maternity pay schemes provided by their employer but did not qualify for statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance. No estimates are available for this group.

No estimates are made for the average number of weeks of paid maternity leave or average payments.

Written Question: Foreign Workers: EU Nationals

Denis MacShane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many EU nationals working in the UK (a) entered and (b) left the country in each month since May 2004.

Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated June 2010:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning how many EU nationals working in the UK (a) entered and (b) left the country in each month since May 2004.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual estimates of migrants entering and leaving the UK. The attached table provides estimates of migration by KU citizens, where the main reason is for work related reasons, for each year since 2004. These estimates are based on the International Passenger Survey (IPS). The IPS is a sample survey and cannot provide monthly estimates of migration.

Please note that the migration estimates provided only cover those visiting or leaving the UK for periods of twelve months or more. They will therefore exclude those entering or leaving the UK for less than twelve months. Also note that not all those travelling for work related reasons will find work in the UK. Similarly, those who travel for other purposes may subsequently work.

These estimates are of numbers of moves each year rather than numbers of people. For instance, an individual could enter in one year, leave just over a year later and then enter again a year after that. They would appear three times in this table.

The full table is available here.

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