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

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to fulfil the Conservative Party’s 2019 General Election manifesto commitment “to make it easier for fathers to take paternity leave”.

BEIS is currently assessing the responses from the consultation on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay. We are also conducting a formal evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme, including large-scale, representative surveys of employers and parents. Together, these will give us a fuller picture of how well the current system of parental leave and pay is working for parents and employers, and inform how we might make it easier for fathers and partners to take Paternity Leave.

The evaluation is ongoing, and we will report on this and publish the Government Response to the consultation in due course.

More generally, Government is committed to making the UK the best place to work and grow a business. In the recent Queen’s Speech, we announced that we will bring forward an Employment Rights Bill to deliver the greatest workers rights reform in over 20 years.