Exclusive: Walsh stands her ground on flexible working

In an exclusive interview with HR magazine, Walsh said she was sticking by the recommendations made to government in May, despite deteriorating economic circumstances prompting business secretary Peter Mandelson to review the plan.

"I wouldn't change my recommendations," Walsh said. "The reasons for extending the right to request are the same today as they were seven months ago. The right to request is the correct approach, the protection for business to say no is robust and there is no reason to lower the age range."

The consultation on the government's response to Walsh's review closes today and the new legislation was expected to come into force in April 2009. However, last month Mandelson said he was reviewing all pending legislation in light of the economic outlook, giving rise to criticism from both family campaign groups and former ministers.

Business lobbyists have argued that the legislation would damage companies, in particular small and medium sized businesses, and that a recession was hardly the time to implement more red tape. The department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) replied by saying it would not rule out delaying implementation or reducing the age limit to children under 12.

But, Walsh said, while she undertook the independent government review with the goal of allowing sufficient time for regulations to be implemented next April, the timeline was less important than the contents.

"If a year's notice is needed following the completion of the consultation it won't die in a ditch. It gives people a tad longer to get used to it. But there is no reason to move the age lower than 16 nor to phase the change," she said.

Walsh added that she hoped to meet the business secretary "in the not too distant future" and that she met representatives from BERR yesterday (Monday).

"I told them that the government still wants as many people in work as possible and that people still want to work, have a family and a life," she said.

Walsh's comments come as shadow minister for families Maria Miller affirmed the Conservative Party's support for flexible working at a parliamentary symposium, Families at Work, supported by HR magazine.