In talks with the major trade unions at the Labour Party's three-daynational policy forum, held at Warwick University last weekend,ministers said that they would extend the adult minimum wage, currently5.52 per hour, to include 21-year-olds.
Ministers also agreed to extend unpaid parental leave for parents ofchildren up to 16, in line with the increase in the right to flexibleworking (News, 22 May 2008). They also pledged to urge employers to bereasonable when considering requests for time off from parents who haveto deal with important but non-emergency issues in caring for theirchildren.
However, John Cridland, deputy director-general of the Confederation ofBritish Industry, warned, 'We believe that great progress has alreadybeen made, and that further legislation would be prohibitively expensivefor both taxpayers and businesses. Instead, we need a cultural shift toencourage more fathers to take up their existing rights. At present onlyone in five takes up their right to paternity leave.'
Delegates at the policy forum agreed to encourage early years providers,including children's centres, to promote healthy eating to youngchildren and their families, and said 150m in capital fundingwould be supplied to build school kitchens in areas where therecurrently are none.
They also said flexible working and shared services could be used togive support staff the option to replace term-time-only contracts withfully-paid 52-week contracts.
