Parents will be able to take more flexible leave to care for their children under new laws unveiled in the Queen’s 
Speech on Wednesday.
The speech, which traditionally outlines the UK Government’s legislative agenda, also announced legislation which will create a requirement for judges to ensure children enjoy a “meaningful” relationship with their father if possible.
Tighter controls on music videos and computer games to stop unsuitable material being seen by children were also announced in the speech.
Under the new parental leave plans, mothers will be allowed to transfer their maternity leave to their partners and return to work earlier.
The Coalition is also looking to offer more opportunities for flexible working which parents can request throughout their son or daughter’s childhood.
A new Children and Families Bill was one of the major pieces of legislation for the next year announced at the state opening of Parliament.
Currently, women in the UK can take up to a year’s maternity leave. For the first six weeks, maternity pay is typically calculated at 90 per cent of average weekly earnings.
Then, for another 33 weeks, the pay either continues to be 90 per cent of weekly wages, or £135.45 a week — whichever is the lowest.
Employers can recoup this money from the Government although many firms offer more generous maternity pay. Any additional maternity leave is unpaid. At the moment, women can transfer the second half of their year’s leave to fathers. This may now be extended to nine months.
The new arrangements mean that women who earn more than their partners can go back to work earlier and the families will be better off as the lower-earning father moves onto the statutory maternity pay.
The package of family-friendly policies and a simplified and improved state pension system will form the centrepiece of today’s announcement on the Government policy agenda for the next year.
A Downing Street source said: “Dealing with the deficit and getting the economy growing remains the Coalition’s top priority. The Prime Minister is passionate about making sure that these children get the best start in life that they can, and this Bill will help us to do that.”
Measures in the Bill will include:
• Legal requirements to ensure that most children will have a relationship with their father if their parents divorce. Judges will have to ensure children enjoy a “meaningful” relationship with their father if possible.
• New controls on music videos and computer games to stop children seeing adult material as part of new laws to enact recommendations from an official review of child sexualisation.
• A speeding-up of the adoption process, particularly for ethnic minority children. Councils will have to prioritise cutting the time to find parents for children ahead of considering their ethnicity. The family justice system will also be reformed so that cases involving children being placed into care must be completed within six months.
• A system to assess and give assistance to children with special educational needs. A simple assessment process will be introduced and local councils will have to liaise with doctors and the NHS to ensure that children with special needs are properly cared for and educated.
Ministers will also pledge today to publish detailed legislation to overhaul the beleaguered social care system within the next year.
This is expected to involve offering people a “cap” on the maximum amount they will have to spend on a nursing home, with any additional treatment covered by taxpayers.
Measures will be introduced to improve the regulation of care homes, with new user ratings, and a crackdown on the postcode lottery in standards and cost of care offered by local authorities.