PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Department for Business and Trade and Competition and Markets Authority: Paternity Leave (8 October 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the average length of paternity leave taken by staff in (a) his Department and (b) the Competition and Markets Authority was in each of the last three years.

Asked by:
Shaun Davies (Labour)

The table below shows the average length of paternity leave taken by staff. This includes paternity leave after birth.

Time period	Average length of paternity leave (working days)
01.08.2023. - 31.07.2024.	10
01.08.2022. - 31.07.2023.	10
01.08.2021. - 31.07.2022.	10

The Department for Business and Trade is a newly formed Department established in February 2023. The new department absorbed the functions of the former Department for International Trade (DIT) and some of the functions of the former Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The figures prior to 01.08.2023 include all former DIT staff and former BEIS staff who transferred to DBT.

The below figures cover the same period for staff at the Competition and Markets Authority.

Year	Average length (mean) of paternity leave (working days)
2021-22	9.8
2022-23	9.4
2023-24	8.9
2024-25 (to date)	8.9

Answered by:
Justin Madders (Labour)
15 October 2024