Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department is making on making it easier for fathers to take paternity leave.

The Conservative Manifesto included a commitment to make it easier for fathers to take Paternity Leave, and the Government fully intends to deliver on this commitment.

In 2019, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay and is currently analysing the responses it received. We separately commissioned large scale, representative, surveys of parents and employers to gather further information on the barriers and enablers to employees taking parental leave, including Paternity Leave, and data on how parental entitlements are used in practice.

The results of this and our analysis of the consultation responses will inform policy developments on Paternity Leave which will be shared in due course.