Milburn advocates extended rights for working parents
Former health secretary Alan Milburn is calling today for more flexible working conditions for all employees.
The backbench MP claims that new fathers should be granted an extension to paternity leave and should be able to spend up to a year off work with their children without losing their jobs.
The former Cabinet minister quit his post as health secretary last year in order to spend more time with his family – partner, Ruth Briel, and their two sons, Joe, 12, and Danny, seven.
“For fairness sake, the opportunity to choose cannot just be the preserve of those who can afford to work less. Choice is currently only for those with the cash,” Mr Milburn will say.
Mr Milburn will urge the prime minister to make the issue of “work-life balance” a top priority for Labour at the next election. He will tell the Demos thinktank that he “feels a million times better” since he gave up his “24-hour-a-day career” for a balanced family life.
Earlier this week trade secretary Patricia Hewitt declared that support for the family would be “at the heart” of a Labour third term and recommended an extension to paid maternity leave from six months to a year and paternity leave from two weeks to a month.
Mr Milburn still advises Tony Blair on policy and is focusing now on the rights of working parents, particularly those on low incomes, both through offering better provision of child care and more flexible work patterns.
Unveiling a series of recommendations that he wants to see in Labour’s next manifesto, Mr Milburn will argue that parents should be granted the choice as to which partner performs the primary carer’s role, the current caps on compensation paid to workers whose employers reject “reasonable requests” to work flexibly should be lifted, the government should ensure that all companies conduct “equal pay reviews” and ministers should give state support for home-based child care.
