The PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) does not hold formal policy in this area as such, however every effort is made to accommodate the individual needs of the Member concerned. In part this is due to the unique employment status of a Member of Parliament.

  With regards to authorised absence from the Government Whip on maternity, paternity or other caring leave—this is agreed with individual members. These are informal, flexible agreements that suit the needs of the individual Member. It is evident that these arrangements work in the feedback that we have received from Members.

  Authorised absence from Parliament is agreed with the Member's Government Whip and the Government Pairing Whip.

  The Parliamentary Labour Party does not provide any specific additional support or assistance over and above that which is available to all Members. This support continues for any member on maternity, parental or caring leave during their absence.

  There is no difference between Members and Ministers in terms of agreed authorised absence for maternity, parental or caring leave or the support offered by the Parliamentary Labour Party.

  As you know, as a Party we are extremely proud of our record in this area. Labour extended paid maternity leave to 39 weeks, which has now been increased to £123.06 a week. New mothers now have the right to nine months paid maternity leave and up to a year in total. We have extended parental leave so that fathers have a right to paid paternity leave for the first time. New fathers now have the right to two weeks paid time off when their baby is born. Labour also introduced the right to request flexible working for parents of disabled children, and has extended this to cover carers of adults.

  We introduced the rights for parents of young children to request flexible working from their employer—and from April 2009 we extended this to parents of all children to 16 benefiting around 4.5 million parents. In addition, all parents and carers now have the right to time off to deal with unexpected problems for their dependants such as family illness.

Martin O'Donovan

PLP Secretary and Labour Party Director of Political Services