Equal Pay and Flexible Working Bill [HL]

My Lords, noble Lords will be aware that discussions are ongoing. I am sure that the noble Lord will not only be consulted but will have the chance to debate this issue during the course of the Bill. We are proud of our record on family-friendly policies and the flexible working policy, which is founded on careful evaluation and thorough consultation. It balances the needs of employees and employers; it contains the right to request, not the right to have, but with the employer having the obligation to consider all requests seriously. Evidence suggests that they do so: 91 per cent of all requests are accepted, and 95 per cent of workplaces say that at least one flexible-working arrangement is available to employees. Some 56 per cent of employees say they have worked flexibly in the past 12 months. Businesses recognise the benefits that flexible working can bring. The Institute of Directors said in its 2008 report that all the measured impacts of flexible working were deemed positive, including productivity, profitability, customer service, recruitment, retention, absenteeism, overhead costs, morale, teamworking and knowledge sharing. Working with business on our flexible working policy has underpinned our success so far, and noble Lords have commented on the CBI’s position in that regard. The noble Baroness asked about the number of fathers requesting flexible working. I am pleased to say that it has broadly doubled. The figures are available and we would be happy to provide them. We will continue to work closely with employers as we embark on this next phase. As my noble friend Lady Morgan has explained, we had a review last year by Imelda Walsh, the HR director of Tesco, who considered evidence from a wide range of sources including interviews with business organisations, unions and family groups.