Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department offers paternity leave to its staff from their first working day.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice does not offer employees paternity leave from their first day of employment. The Department’s policy on paternity leave aligns with statutory entitlements. To qualify for paternity leave, employees must have worked continuously for the Civil Service for at least 26 weeks up to the 'qualifying week'. The qualifying week is set out in the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002 and is different depending on whether an employee is adopting, is the partner of a birth parent, or is having a child through surrogacy.
As with any changes to employment legislation, internal policies and processes will be updated as appropriate in preparation for when the Employment Rights Bill 2024 comes into effect.
Found: mother or father of a baby, the partner of a person giving birth, an adoptive parent, or carer in a surrogacy
Allow the use of privately sourced donor eggs in NHS funded IVF treatment
- 193 Signatures
After commencing our surrogacy journey early this year, our surrogate, my fiancé and myself attended a telephone appointment with the infertility clinic at the Glasgow Royal. We were told that - although we were on a waiting list for eggs - the likelihood of getting eggs would be “minuscule” as the waiting time suggests over 30 years before we are next in line. The NHS in Scotland operates on an “all or nothing” policy meaning if patients source eggs from elsewhere they lose all funding for IVF via the NHS. This leaves a massive gap in equality for those in need of eggs. This affects people in same sex male and heterosexual relationships, as well as single women and men. Due to this void in resources, many people are faced with the prospect of crushing a dream to have a biological child.
Found: After commencing our surrogacy journey early this year, our surrogate, my fiancé and myself attended
Oct. 22 2024
Source Page: I. Universal Credit guidance 2024 [update of previous guidance deposited April 2024, DEP2024-0442]. 207 docs. II. Letter dated 16/10/2024 from Stephen Timms MP to the Deposited Papers Clerk regarding documents for deposit in the House libraries. Incl. file list at Annex D. 8p.Found: aternity leave and pay if their partner is having a baby, adopting a child or having a baby through a surrogacy
Mentions:
1: Justin Madders (Lab - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough) in the regulations encompasses adoptive parents, foster-to-adopt parents and intended parents in surrogacy - Speech Link
Jan. 09 2025
Source Page: FOI release 23178: Cafcass policiesFound: .............................................. 9 Children Who Have Been Adopted Or Born Through Surrogacy
Oct. 11 2024
Source Page: Kinship care: framework for local authoritiesFound: emails about this page Print this page Explore the topic Adoption, fostering and surrogacy
Mentions:
1: None It will allow it for same-sex male couples where one or both have HIV in a surrogacy arrangement, as - Speech Link
Oct. 22 2024
Source Page: Civil Service: Shared Parental LeaveFound: developed two booklets: one for employees having a baby one for employees adopting a child, including surrogacy
Written Evidence Feb. 12 2025
Inquiry: Equality at work: paternity and shared parental leaveFound: provided parents (including different-sex and same-sex parents, adoptive parents, and parents through surrogacy