Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham supports flexible working for parents

The Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham, the Rt Revd George Cassidy, gave his backing today (15th March 2007) to the national campaign by the Mothers' Union on flexible working for parents. The Bishop, in the House of Lords, put the question below to the Government, he said: "What percentage of parents of children under six have exercised the right to request flexible working; and what are the obstacles to extending this right to all parents of children up to the age of 18?"

He then asked the following supplementary questions:

"Does HMG agree that flexible working can contribute to meeting many social goals from reducing child poverty through greater parental participation in the labour market, to closing the gender pay gap?  And will the government give every encouragement to the business community to embrace all the benefits which flexible working can bring to the good of business, family and community life?”

ends