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Work and Families Bill

I would be prepared to consider that again. We found some complications with it, but there is every opportunity to look into that in Committee. Providing genuine choice is important for the individuals concerned and for the companies for which they work, but it is also important for the country’s continued economic prosperity. The Government are determined to increase the proportion of people in work from 75 per cent., which is the highest of any G7 country, to 80 per cent., a level only achieved in Iceland—that is the country, incidentally, not the retail outlet. The so-called family-friendly agenda, which has a crucial economic dimension, was neglected for too long. When we came into power in 1997, a father could watch the birth of his child in the evening and be compelled to go to work the next morning. We established the entitlement to paid paternity leave for the first time in this country.