UK Parliament / Open data

Work and Families Bill

Debate on bills on Monday, 5 December 2005, in the House of Commons, led by Alan Johnson. The answering member was Baroness May of Maidenhead.
Work and Families Bill. Second reading debate agreed to on question. Programme motion for proceedings in Committee, on Report and Third reading agreed to on question (formal). Money resolution agreed to on question (formal).
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
440 c643-708 
Session
2005-06
Department
Department of Trade and Industry
Legislative stage
Second reading
Procedure
Programme motions
Money resolutions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Work and Families Bill. Explanatory notes Bill 60-EN also published.
Tuesday, 18 October 2005
Bills
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 440 c660 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I remind right hon. and hon. Members that Mr. Speaker has imposed a 10-minute limit on Ba...
Mike Weir | 440 c643 (Link to this contribution) I understand what the Secretary of State says and very much support the Bill, but one small group—th...

Show all contributions (144)
Alan Johnson | 440 c644 (Link to this contribution) In terms of maternity leave, the hon. Gentleman well knows that small businesses get 104.5 per cent....
Alan Johnson | 440 c645 (Link to this contribution) I want to make one final point. In relation to paternity leave, we are taking a power in the Bill. ...
Norman Lamb | 440 c644 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give an idea of the current take-up of the entitlement to two weeks’ pat...
Alan Johnson | 440 c643-4 (Link to this contribution) I would be prepared to consider that again. We found some complications with it, but there is every ...
Mark Prisk | 440 c644 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State rightly suggests that the Bill should be about fairness. Is it fair that fami...
Alan Johnson | 440 c644 (Link to this contribution) I do not have the exact figure, but take-up is encouraging and high. The matter does not relate just...
David Burrowes | 440 c645 (Link to this contribution) Although small businesses can reclaim contributions, does the Secretary of State appreciate the sign...
Alan Johnson | 440 c645 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept that. Interestingly, the hon. Gentleman mentions manpower, so I presume he is talkin...
Alan Johnson | 440 c645 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow).
Alan Johnson | 440 c646 (Link to this contribution) As the chorus behind me is pointing out, that would be illegal. The hon. Gentleman makes the argumen...
Tobias Ellwood | 440 c646 (Link to this contribution) I am concerned about the Minister’s statements on how the measure will affect small businesses. Is h...
Alan Johnson | 440 c646 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In fact, the average cost, for example, of the right to request ...
Alan Johnson | 440 c645 (Link to this contribution) Although we would all miss the hon. Gentleman when he goes on paternity leave, I hope that he takes ...
Alan Johnson | 440 c645 (Link to this contribution) The regulations will be subject to the affirmative counterpart.
John Bercow | 440 c645 (Link to this contribution) I have just taken a short and enjoyable period of paternity leave and I might plan to take some more...
Alan Johnson | 440 c646 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an extremely important point more eloquently than I could. We must consider tha...
Mark Prisk | 440 c646 (Link to this contribution) Some time ago, when answering my original question, the Secretary of State said that small business ...
Helen Jones | 440 c646 (Link to this contribution) In addition to emphasising the benefits to small businesses of the measures in the Bill, will my rig...
Alan Johnson | 440 c647 (Link to this contribution) I think that that survey, if it is accurate, was about interchangeable leave, which has now turned i...
Alan Johnson | 440 c643 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. This Government back Britain’s families and...
Norman Lamb | 440 c705 (Link to this contribution) The Minister mentions regulations. I am sure that he is about to get to it, but will he confirm prec...
Gerry Sutcliffe | 440 c705 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will let me make my own speech and get to those points when I can. We ha...
Gerry Sutcliffe | 440 c704-5 (Link to this contribution) I hope to come on to that point later in my speech. However, we do not accept that the proposal that...
Gerry Sutcliffe | 440 c705-7 (Link to this contribution) It took the Conservatives a long time to get anywhere, and they did not get to the stage of benefiti...
Patricia Hewitt | 440 c705 (Link to this contribution) Eighteen years was too soon for that.
Kitty Ussher | 440 c670 (Link to this contribution) In that case why did the Conservatives oppose our policies on the working tax credit, the child tax ...
Julie Kirkbride | 440 c669-70 (Link to this contribution) I am particularly grateful to be called at this point. I think someone on the Conservative Benches h...
Helen Jones | 440 c667-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to comment briefly on what I consider to be a good Bill. I agree w...
Norman Lamb | 440 c665-7 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I could give the Secretary of State an opportunity to intervene to clarify the matter. The...
Julie Morgan | 440 c672-4 (Link to this contribution) I am very pleased to welcome another progressive Bill. Last week, we considered the Childcare Bill, ...
Julie Kirkbride | 440 c670 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether new Members should always follow the Whips’ brief, because I am told by my hon...
Peter Luff | 440 c665 (Link to this contribution) I sense that the Secretary of State may be reading a note from the Box. I could be wrong on that. If...
Peter Luff | 440 c675-7 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the civilised speech from the hon. Member for Cardiff, North (Julie Morga...
Peter Luff | 440 c677-8 (Link to this contribution) I shall not do that in the short time available, although I would happily discuss it with the hon. L...
Kitty Ussher | 440 c677 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that I made such a huge impression on the hon. Gentleman. He said that regulations wo...
Diana Johnson | 440 c678-9 (Link to this contribution) I listened with particular care to the contributions of Opposition Members. I was pleased that my ho...
Peter Luff | 440 c679 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It may help the hon. Lady to know that, if she gives way, e...
Alan Johnson | 440 c679 (Link to this contribution) No, I will continue because I have only a short amount of time.
Alan Johnson | 440 c679 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to you for that information, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The Bill is important in setting out...
Speaker | 440 c679 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Lady is aware that, if she gives way, time is added to her speech, so she do...
Peter Luff | 440 c677 (Link to this contribution) That is the problem. Each and every one on its own is perfectly reasonable, yet their sum total is u...
Alison Seabeck | 440 c677 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman pick out from the list that he half read out which of those rights would be a...
Peter Luff | 440 c658 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State produced a fascinating set of figures. If they are accurate, it is difficult ...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c658 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes some valid points about the genuine impact of legislation on small businesses. ...
Peter Bone | 440 c658 (Link to this contribution) It strikes me that the Secretary of State’s statement clearly shows that private business can do thi...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c658 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend’s analysis of the problems with the figures that the Government provide....
Mark Prisk | 440 c658 (Link to this contribution) I accept that the figures are recent and that the Secretary of State’s offer to make the process mor...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c657-8 (Link to this contribution) I have only recently heard those figures. I have not seen the calculation and I do not therefore nec...
John Bercow | 440 c659 (Link to this contribution) As a general principle, there should be even-handedness between the treatment of the private sector ...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c659-60 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Minister will clarify that point for my hon. Friend when he winds up the debate. The pow...
Norman Lamb | 440 c664 (Link to this contribution) Indeed; it is to be hoped that that will be the case. Consultation can take place on the detail befo...
Gerry Sutcliffe | 440 c664 (Link to this contribution) We need to nail the point about regulation. The principles that we are trying to implement are set o...
Norman Lamb | 440 c665 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with that suggestion, which was well made. I hope that the Minister will respond po...
Mark Prisk | 440 c664-5 (Link to this contribution) : I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman detects in the decent manner of the Minister that perhaps ther...
Liz Blackman | 440 c660-1 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker for calling me. I do not think that I shall use up all my allotted t...
Norman Lamb | 440 c663-4 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I was not aware of those figures, and I hope that in the wind up th...
Mark Prisk | 440 c663 (Link to this contribution) : The hon. Gentleman, the Secretary of State and I are all formers members of the Standing Committee...
Peter Luff | 440 c665 (Link to this contribution) While the hon. Gentleman is making the point, perhaps he will explore the question raised by my hon....
Peter Luff | 440 c650 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State helpfully said that draft regulations would be published while the Bill proce...
Alan Johnson | 440 c650 (Link to this contribution) Once the Bill has completed its passage through the House, we must ensure that people, including car...
Jim McGovern | 440 c650-1 (Link to this contribution) To pursue the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Kitty Ussher) about a mother want...
Julie Morgan | 440 c650 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend not agree that the consultation on the regulations is important, particula...
Mark Prisk | 440 c652 (Link to this contribution) : Will the Secretary of State tell the House whether those powers are retrospective? I assume that t...
Alan Johnson | 440 c651-2 (Link to this contribution) We will reflect further on that point—the hon. Gentleman has said that that means that we will not d...
Norman Lamb | 440 c651 (Link to this contribution) To return to the issue of flexible working and carers, the right hon. Gentleman’s response to an ear...
Alan Johnson | 440 c651 (Link to this contribution) Given the way in which we plan to introduce the legislation, that will not be a concern. Two criteri...
Alan Johnson | 440 c652 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman’s assumption is correct—those powers are not retrospective. In closing, there is...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c652 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to say that we agree with many of the aims of this Bill and some of the proposals withi...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c652-4 (Link to this contribution) It sounds like my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) is rather too easily gratified...
John Bercow | 440 c654 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for her remarks. The Secretary of State responded to my interv...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c655 (Link to this contribution) I understood the Secretary of State to indicate that all the regulations in those clauses would be s...
Alan Johnson | 440 c655 (Link to this contribution) I shall try to be as dextrous as possible. I am pretty sure that that applies to all the clauses. Th...
Alan Johnson | 440 c656-7 (Link to this contribution) We have been at pains to explain to the CBI and others that the paternity leave proposals will intro...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c655-6 (Link to this contribution) I suspect that we will return to this in Committee. We recognise that the right to request has been...
Alan Johnson | 440 c657 (Link to this contribution) I accept that Opposition Members have not had time to absorb the figures but does the right hon. Lad...
Alan Johnson | 440 c648 (Link to this contribution) The intention is to fulfil a manifesto commitment that employers will no longer be allowed to take b...
John Bercow | 440 c648 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is being extremely generous in giving way. In clause 13, which deals with ann...
Alan Johnson | 440 c647-8 (Link to this contribution) I was talking about right to request costing £80. When we introduced right to request—I see several ...
Julie Kirkbride | 440 c647 (Link to this contribution) Before moving on will the Secretary of State answer what I feel is an illogical point in the argumen...
Norman Lamb | 440 c648 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Alan Johnson | 440 c648 (Link to this contribution) Well, I almost returned to my script—[Laughter.] I give way to the hon. Gentleman.
Norman Lamb | 440 c648 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his generosity. On the point that he just made, the Conf...
Alan Johnson | 440 c648-9 (Link to this contribution) Again, we have taken a power in the Bill because we want to consult widely and listen to such argume...
Alan Johnson | 440 c650 (Link to this contribution) We will certainly reflect on that. The result of the consultation that we published in February was ...
Kitty Ussher | 440 c649-50 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend said that he wanted to support women in their choices. When he issues the regul...
Alan Johnson | 440 c649 (Link to this contribution) They are not in this Bill, but they are in the Turner report, and we will have to wait for the respo...
Philip Hollobone | 440 c649 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the Secretary of State will not finish his introductory remarks without placing on recor...
Alan Johnson | 440 c649 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. We have not yet decided precisely how we will define it. Obviously, we ...
Baroness Keeley | 440 c649 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State said that the right to request flexible working would be extended to carers, ...
Gerry Sutcliffe | 440 c703-4 (Link to this contribution) I have listened with great interest to the contributions of hon. Members from both sides of the Hous...
Kitty Ussher | 440 c702 (Link to this contribution) I understand that my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel) had her child...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c702 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady speaks with authority on this matter because she has a very small baby, and it is quit...
Gerry Sutcliffe | 440 c701 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving me the opportunity to intervene. I am sorry that she has m...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c701-2 (Link to this contribution) No. I am glad the Minister asked that question. I am not committing my party to anything; I was sayi...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c701 (Link to this contribution) I will of course give way to the Minister as long as he understands that my speech will go on longer...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c701 (Link to this contribution) I am most impressed, although I will not encourage any more of my hon. Friends to display their new ...
Charles Walker | 440 c700 (Link to this contribution) I am very much a new man. Indeed, it was my daughter Charlotte’s ninth birthday today and I managed ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c700 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, but each hon. Member has a different hour at which they want ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c700 (Link to this contribution) I am amazed and gobsmacked. The Bill has already had an effect if it has made my right hon. Friend t...
Peter Luff | 440 c700 (Link to this contribution) I have to let my hon. Friend into a secret. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Mr. Macka...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c700 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that my right hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell will be pleased to be called a new ...
Jim Devine | 440 c700 (Link to this contribution) Is it not silly to be talking about work-life balances when we are sitting here at half-past nine at...
Madeleine Moon | 440 c696-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a great honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee, West (Mr. McGovern), especially...
Speaker | 440 c698 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady has had her 10 minutes.
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c698-700 (Link to this contribution) To finish the sentence of the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs. Moon), it is likely nowadays that someo...
Julie Kirkbride | 440 c700 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend would like to know, as a good friend of my right hon. Friend the Membe...
Jim McGovern | 440 c694-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend entirely. I am against two-tier work forces, regardless of where they ex...
Jim McGovern | 440 c693 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to speak in this debate on a welcome and important Bill. The research paper suggest...
Kitty Ussher | 440 c689-90 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that clarification. I am sure that the hon. Member for Mid-Worcesters...
Norman Lamb | 440 c690 (Link to this contribution) I agree with what the hon. Lady is saying about redressing the balance between men and women as wome...
Kitty Ussher | 440 c688-9 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in this debate, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I add my name to t...
Peter Bone | 440 c689 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Lady knows that my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Pet...
Gerry Sutcliffe | 440 c692 (Link to this contribution) I do not want the hon. Gentleman to run away with the idea that Ministers do not have parental respo...
Peter Bone | 440 c693 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for that comment. However, if he had had to bring up those children at...
Kitty Ussher | 440 c690-1 (Link to this contribution) I do not favour that, because it would send out the wrong signal. We should either support someone o...
Mike Weir | 440 c686-8 (Link to this contribution) The Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru welcome the Bill. We recognise that the rights it gives ...
Mark Prisk | 440 c683-4 (Link to this contribution) I wish that I were surprised, but I suspect that on closer examination—when the Committee gets its t...
Alison Seabeck | 440 c684-6 (Link to this contribution) We heard my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State explain the Government’s intentions in introduc...
Alan Johnson | 440 c679 (Link to this contribution) On the basis of the information that I have just been given, I will gladly give way.
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 440 c679 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for giving way so graciously. I wonder whether she will explain why she is so ...
Alan Johnson | 440 c679-80 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that intervention. When debating such Bills, it is important to c...
Peter Luff | 440 c680 (Link to this contribution) I wish to put on record that I have never suggested that that was acceptable. It is never acceptable...
Alan Johnson | 440 c680-1 (Link to this contribution) With the greatest respect, the hon. Gentleman was not the only hon. Member to raise that point. I am...
Mark Prisk | 440 c681-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Ms Johnson), who clearly s...
Peter Luff | 440 c683 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. The full regulatory impact assessment seems to cost in rema...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c657 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that clarification and I accept that an element of transferability remains in the ...
Peter Bone | 440 c691-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Burnley (Kitty Ussher), who made such a powerful spee...
Julie Kirkbride | 440 c670-2 (Link to this contribution) Not again, sorry. It is important that mothers, where they wish to do so, take maternity leave. It ...
Mark Prisk | 440 c646-7 (Link to this contribution) I see the Under-Secretary of State nod. Unfortunately, he has just given me a reply to a written que...
Alison Seabeck | 440 c645-6 (Link to this contribution) To return to the point made by the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk), does my right...
Julie Kirkbride | 440 c704 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the Minister will address the point made by Conservative Members about flexibility and a...
Baroness May of Maidenhead | 440 c658-9 (Link to this contribution) My understanding is that the Treasury, not the Department of Trade and Industry, did the major work ...
Jim Devine | 440 c693-4 (Link to this contribution) Is it not embarrassing that in this place we have a two-tier work force for domestics, one of which ...
Norman Lamb | 440 c661-3 (Link to this contribution) To pick up on the point made by the hon. Member for Erewash (Liz Blackman) about flexible working fo...
Norman Lamb | 440 c665 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. He reminded me of something with which I ...
Alan Johnson | 440 c650 (Link to this contribution) We can try. The timetable is a little tight, but I hope that we can publish those regulations before...
Subjects
Conditions of employment
Childcare
Adoption
Carers
Costs
Business
Employment
Families
Information
Leave
Fathers
Flexible working
Parents
Public holidays
Maternity pay
Paternity leave
Maternity leave
Small businesses
Take-up
Working mothers
Legislation
Work and Families Bill 2005-06
Link
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