Employment Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Employment and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
I am grateful for the comments made by the hon. Members for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk) and for Wealden (Mr. Hendry) on adoption applying to children up to 18 years of age.
We were open about our intentions when we published detailed plans as to how we would frame the regulations in November. That allowed people a feel for how we intend to operate, and we included the kind of provisions that we have mentioned. Where a married couple adopts, one spouse can choose to take adoption leave and the other can choose paternity leave. That has led to legislative confusion because a woman could take paternity leave, but it was nevertheless the sensible and correct thing to do. We also consulted with all the adoption organisations and agencies and they unanimously approved our approach.
My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) made the important point about overseas adoptions that although we would not generally think that the placement of a relative fitted the bill for adoption, that could be the case for adoptions from overseas, of which there will be only around 300 a year. I got my figures confused this morning, Mr. Amess, perhaps because I missed your inspirational presence in the Chair. I mistook the figure for overseas adoptions for the figure for adoptions in total, so I must make it clear that 200 to 300 will be the number of the overseas adoptions. That said, my hon. Friend made an important point that we are considering carefully. He cited a constituent who will adopt a child from overseas—having had no previous contact—who is a relative. We shall examine the issue carefully, and work with the Department of Health to ensure that we address it in the regulations.
I am a little concerned by the comments of the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford on the regulatory impact assessment. He might be girding his loins for a later amendment—if we get to it—but the assessment was not a bad stab that is more likely to be accurate than some of the other figures. Assessments are always difficult, but on adoption I remind hon. Members that the cost to the taxpayer will be £10 million. We envisage that the one-off implementation cost will be £1 million and the recurring costs will be between £2 million and £3 million. Not a single employer opposed the measure, and the most common comment was that it is long overdue, a point that has been reflected by Opposition Members.
Clause 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.