Work and Families Bill

I wholeheartedly endorse everything that the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham have said about the importance of parenthood, supporting families and good quality time that parents have with their children. We very much identify and have sympathy with the aims behind the amendment but we also have some concerns. The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, made a very strong case, which has been promoted by a group of 13 family and children’s lobby groups. I think that she described them as a ““galaxy””, and indeed they are. Extending the right to carers of all children could provide much-needed support for older children, particularly, for example, teenagers who suffer from mental health problems. The national charity, Young Minds, has stated:"““There is deeply worrying evidence of a dramatic deterioration in teenage mental health””." Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry have reported that behavioural problems have doubled and that emotional problems have increased by 70 per cent in 15 year-olds over a 25-year period. As the right reverend Prelate has already mentioned, eating disorders, sadly, form a high proportion of teenage mental stress, with anorexia affecting two out of every 100 teenagers. It is 20 times more common in girls than in boys. Overall research into the mental health of children shows that 20 per cent of children have mental health problems but that fewer than half get any help with those problems. They rely very much on the support of their parents. We have already heard in earlier debates that 90 per cent of young offenders have a mental health problem when they are children, and most of those problems are apparent at the age of seven—an age beyond the cut-off suggested by the Government for flexible working. Can the Minister say whether the Government have received representations from children’s mental health groups on flexible working or whether they have undertaken any of their own research into how flexible working may help with the care of such children? Indeed, could the parents of children suffering these problems come under the definition of ““carer””? I should be interested to hear the noble Lord’s views. As I highlighted on Second Reading, family is a crucial building block of a stable and prosperous society. The lack of a proper family structure is a sure path to poverty; I mean poverty in all senses of the word, not just economical but emotional as well. There is no doubt that the request for flexible working to date has been a success, a fact supported by the CBI employment trends survey. But many large and small businesses now extend the right to flexible working to all their employees. As I said on Second Reading, flexible working is almost an area where business is ahead of legislation. The Conservative Party feels that it is time for a detailed and wide-ranging debate on the whole issue of flexible working. It goes way beyond the consultation that the Government have had. As such, we think it should not be rushed. We would like to see how the proposed extension to carers works first. One of the consequences—which I am sure is not intended—of the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, may be that although we now have the original right to request flexible working and we extend it to children up to 18 and add it to carers, we leave a small part of the work force with no right to request flexible working. It leaves them feeling very put upon and could lead to an unhappy working environment. Increased rights for parents and carers often mean burdens on employers and other employees. While the current system extends the flexible work right, it also adds regulatory burden. It is particularly hard on small businesses. We must be careful to ensure that the right balance is struck between the family life of the employer and employee and between flexible working and viable business practices. I very much welcome the noble Baroness’s amendments. I hope that this has been a start to an open and frank debate surrounding the issues of flexible working and the potential benefits it holds for everybody, in addition to the fine line that needs to be held to achieve it.