Speeches

Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the period of maternity leave for mothers of premature babies.

Margot James

The UK’s generous entitlement of 52 weeks’ maternity leave provides mothers with sufficient leave to take account of a range of circumstances. Parents who have been employees with the same employer for over a year also have a separate entitlement to parental leave of 18 weeks per parent per child, up to the child’s 18th birthday, of which typically up to 4 weeks can be taken in one year.