Work and Families Bill

I thank the Minister for his reply and, in particular, I thank the right reverend Prelate and others for their support for the amendments. We have to bear in mind that, as it stands, this is quite a weak right. If an employer is not convinced by the business case, there is nothing to force him to give flexible working to any employee. At Second Reading I gave an excellent example of where business is, indeed, ahead of legislation, as the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, said. I think that best practice is excellent but sometimes government have to take a lead and pull people along to make them adopt best practice. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris, expressed her concern that a small part of the workforce might be left behind, but they would not be if my Amendment No. 18 were passed. What concerns me is that the state is gradually taking on more and more responsibility for children, and that is the wrong approach. It is better to help parents do it for themselves. These amendments would be one of those measures. The statutory right backs up the employee with an appeals process if the employer turns them down unreasonably. I accept that a lot of people who do not have the statutory right can still go to their employer, but the fact that they are backed up by a procedure makes that right more important. It is important to get a balance between the needs of the employer and the employee, and none of us want to put an undue burden on business, but I would refer the Committee to the statistics: 87 per cent of businesses surveyed by the CBI have reported that the existing law has had either a positive or no impact on their business. So I am not suggesting something that puts an undue burden on business, as the CBI’s own research shows.