Work and Families Bill

In that case, I welcome it, because the Minister is a good friend. [Laughter.] That has clearly caused a lot of trouble. I had better move on. A simplistic exercise could be undertaken at a desk in Whitehall to calculate the total cost to employers, but such an exercise would not take account of the time involved. Imagine a small business with a manual payroll system and one boss, man or woman, trying to run everything: trying to keep the money coming in, and at the same time having to deal with additional administrative burdens. I do not think that the RIA takes adequate account of that either. The hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Weir) made a good point about the cumulative effect of one regulation after another. Others pointed out that business people have families themselves, and must often do the work late at night or at weekends when they too could be improving their work-life balances. There is another important point, which has not been mentioned today but which should be borne in mind. Members of Parliament may have staff who take maternity leave. I face the delightful prospect of two staff members’ taking maternity leave this year. [Interruption.] There is nothing further to be said about that. There is no scandal. There is no skeleton in my cupboard.