Hansard

I congratulate Alison Johnstone on securing today’s debate, in which I am pleased to take part.

I commend the excellent work of the staff of Bliss Scotland, whom I was pleased to meet recently. As the motion says, around 5,800 babies who need specialist neonatal care are born in Scotland each year, with half of those being born prematurely. Bliss Scotland plays an important role in supporting many families with sick and premature babies, including in the Lothian region that Alison Johnstone and I represent. I pay tribute to all those who work for and volunteer for this valuable charity, including—as Kenny Gibson outlined—the Bliss champions who work in hospitals across the country.

I recognise that parents of sick and premature babies who require extended periods of specialist hospital care will often experience immense worry and stress and face substantial extra financial pressures. Many parents in those circumstances talk about the difficulties of spending weeks or months in hospital unexpectedly when they had been looking forward to bonding with their new babies at home. The impact of that on parents’ mental health is really significant and is something that we also need to mention in the context of the debate.

We will all have genuine sympathy for parents in these circumstances. I am also very aware that many premature babies will have on-going health problems that make it more difficult for parents to return to work, with many babies requiring repeated hospital appointments after they come home.

Although statutory maternity leave is 52 weeks across the UK, parents who have been employees with the same employer for over a year have the right to a separate entitlement of parental leave of 18 weeks unpaid leave per parent per child up to a child’s 18th birthday, of which up to four weeks can be taken in one year.

I am aware that some employers—who are to be commended—already try to be as flexible as possible with parents of premature babies by offering extra compassionate leave, sick leave, or the use of annual leave. However, I accept that parents, as well as Bliss and other charities, want to see more than just those informal arrangements and that we need to look at an extension of formal maternity and paternity leave and statutory maternity pay.

As Donald Cameron said, these matters are clearly within the remit of the UK Government. In light of today’s debate and ahead of the second reading of the member’s bill on this subject in the Commons next March, I will also be writing to the UK Government, asking it to take account of this debate and whether it will be conducting any further review in this area.

Although we must consider very carefully the financial consequences of extending statutory maternity pay and the potential impact of that on business—especially small businesses in Scotland—there are strong arguments that more can and should be done to support the specific needs and requirements of parents with premature babies.

I congratulate my colleague Alison Johnstone on bringing this important issue to Parliament and I hope that we can make further progress in the new year.