Transcript: Twitter Q&A with Gov Minister Jo Swinson

In case you missed it, I took part in a live twitter interview with Employment relations Minister Jo Swinson.

The Q&A, which was held on 5 February, coincided with the publication of the Children and Families Bill. Amongst other things the Bill includes:

• provision to introduce a shared parental leave system, replacing maternity and paternity leave,
• a legal right for men to attend antenatal appointments and
• plans to make it easier to request flexible working.

LOver the past few days I have been collecting questions to put to the Minister. I put as many of them to her as I could during the Q&A.

The discussion covered a diverse range of subjects including; the effect on businesses of shared parental leave, whether parents will be able to afford to make full use of the proposals and whether paternity leave should be extended. In a shock revelation the Minister also admitted that she doesn’t eat pancakes.

A transcript of the Q&A an be found here (link removed by editor, transcript no longer available, sorry). Thank you to everyone that posed questions and apologies if I didn’t get the chance to ask yours. Thank you also to the Department of Business Innovation and Skills for facilitating the Q&A and thanks also to the Minister for taking part.