Clause 1 - Paternity leave
Employment Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Employment and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
Yes. It would not be right to debar people in that situation from taking paternity leave for each child. Social security legislation has had to deal with polygamous marriages for some time. This is not the first time that such arrangements have been regulated by Government. Perhaps a previous Minister has been asked these questions on other Bills. We would obviously talk closely to the people who dealt with this in the past before we framed any regulations. We would have to ensure that we got it right. In general, the father should be entitled to paternity leave however many children were born, provided that he met the qualifications set out elsewhere in the regulations, particularly the parental qualifications.