Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2017 to Question HL3576, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen families.

The Department for International Trade is committed to providing family friendly policies, e.g. maternity leave, parental leave, adoption leave, foster care leave, career breaks and emergency special leave with bereavement and carers leave. In addition, we advocate flexible working to help our staff achieve a good work-life balance, and also offer Childcare Vouchers.

We also provide an Employee Assistance Programme that gives access to health and fitness information and legal and financial advice, as well as counselling for staff and their immediate families where required.