Thank you, Declan [Curry, chairing the summit] and David [Lennan, Chairman of Work Wise UK], for that introduction, and for inviting me to speak today.
I'm delighted to be here to help launch the second Work Wise Week. As you at Work Wise point out - it's not a week that runs Monday to Friday but Wednesday to Tuesday - which is a great way of making us all stop and think about how we structure our working lives, and how we can do it better, or "work smarter" as you put it.

Benefits

Even before I became an MP, or a mother, I've been passionate about how we fit work together with other parts of our lives.
The work-life balance agenda is that apparently rare situation where everybody wins. Business. The UK economy. Workers themselves. Their families. And from that, society as a whole.
Smarter working arrangements, such as flexible full-time hours, or part-time work, job-sharing, or working from home with imaginative IT solutions, help people reconcile the real needs of their lives. Earning a living, gaining fulfilment through their job, while alongside that bringing up a family, caring for a relative, or pursuing a personal interest.
I won't list the benefits at any length - because you, of all audiences, are aware of what they are. They're set out in the Work Wise Concordat. That the list is so long and is accepted by many of those speaking today - including the CBI, TUC, Chambers of Commerce - demonstrates how far we've moved on. We take for granted the improved morale, better staff retention, access to a bigger pool of potential employees, and enhanced productivity and competitiveness. And we are happy to talk about the social benefits of people spending time with their families and getting involved in their communities.
I also think it's of great value that other speakers today are looking beyond the individual worker and employer to how through flexibility we can tackle our skills gap, climate change and congestion, the big challenges of the next 10 years.

Case studies

And there are, of course, many excellent examples of how employers are making flexibility work in practice, among them the companies represented by today's other speakers.
There are also the exemplar employers my own department has identified with Opportunity Now. Many of them met yesterday to discuss the innovative ways they're tackling occupational segregation and unequal pay, and increasing opportunities for women in the workplace.
And we are trying to lead the way in the public sector. Some of that is about learning valuable lessons from the way business operates - especially how to respond to the demands of a 24/7 world. People expect the same from public services as from their bank or supermarket. We're continually looking at how to respond to this, and increasing flexibility for staff working in services as well as flexibility for those accessing them. I've always been struck by one of the first flexible working examples I heard of - the library service in Bristol that began to offer some Sunday afternoon opening because staff as well as library users suggested it.
So that's where we are - and we should recognise there's been significant progress. In part this is because the government has been prepared to take some tough decisions such as introducing the right to request flexible working. We may not have always taken decisions that business wanted at the time, but we have listened carefully to the concerns.
And today, Gordon Brown is asking whether we should go further, and extend the right to other groups in due course - but in doing so taking the business community with us. Because the key to our success so far has been culture change, and the fact that we have been able to maintain a consensus.
There's no doubt the culture has changed.
When I first became an MP - it was all about "family friendliness".
Restricted to women with children. We were warned it would cost jobs - or that employers would avoid employing the million people who become parents each year.
Now... flexible working has been embraced. Everyone wants it. Flexible working is one of the factors determining young people's choice of employer. Employers are responding.
The recent British Chambers of Commerce survey found 9 out of 10 respondents offer some form of flexible working. 60 per cent or more noted an improvement in employee relations, staff retention and productivity.

Challenges

So we know the benefits. After 10 years in government, now is a good time to ask where the debate should go next. What are the new challenges?
Let me set out three areas.

All levels - especially lower paid or place specific

First, how do we ensure that all workers benefit equally, while recognising legitimate business concerns? One of our responses to the Women and Work Commission has been to use some "seed corn" funding to promote quality part time work. We're match-funding over a dozen organisations of different sizes and in different sectors. Those employers will share their experience of offering part-time work at senior levels.
But (as I'm sure Brendan [Barber, TUC General Secretary] will say later) work-life balance is just as much an issue for lower paid workers, workers from black and minority ethnic communities, and women in the female-dominated sectors such as cleaning and retail - jobs that are often tied to a particular workplace.
Of course, not all types of flexibility are suitable for all workplaces or all workers. But most people can usually find something that suits. One example is the manufacturing company where for a long time staff have been able to choose to work in the evenings so the school day is free [Listawood plc]. So the first challenge is to make sure flexible working practices reach everyone, regardless of seniority or income or sector.

Men as well as women

The second challenge is how we make this debate about men as well as women. To make flexibility real for everyone, men who want to spend more time with their families must feel as free to ask their employers as women.
Again, we've come a long way in 10 years. In 1997, there was no right to paternity leave and no such thing as paternity pay; now 4 in 5 fathers are taking up their entitlement.
And on Monday - having extended maternity leave to 12 months and doubled maternity pay - the Government launched a consultation on how to implement dads' right to up to 6 months' additional paternity leave. This won't come in until 2009 at the earliest. But it's significant is that dads are now firmly on the agenda. The role of fathers has changed. Men take on caring responsibilities too. But there's evidence many still feel inhibited in asking for more flexibility.
So the second challenge we need to face up to is what more we can do to encourage men to request flexible working.

Flexibility from day one

The third challenge is how we could take flexible working into consideration during the recruitment process. Let me make clear: this time I am talking of a debate about the way we look at jobs, not about legislation. The right to request flexible working was only extended to carers of adults this April. The groups who've had it since 2003 are, of course, parents of under-6s and parents of disabled children up to 18.
But to qualify for the right to ask, you've got to have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks. For a mother who's been out of the workplace for a while, or someone who is already a carer, that means finding a job, and setting up a package of full-time care before starting, and then 6 months down the line being able to have your request considered.
It's true the right to request flexible working has made a huge difference. It's one of our most significant achievements.
For workers: recent surveys show that 47 per cent of new mothers work flexi-time compared to just 17 per cent in 2002, and almost triple the number of new fathers now work flexibly.
For their employers: the proportion of mothers who have changed their employer when returning to work has halved from 41 per cent in 2002 to 20 per cent now. So that's only half as many posts needing a recruitment exercise, with all the costs associated with that.
And many employers have gone beyond the legal right, offering flexibility to all workers. In some cases, advertising that posts are suitable for job share or for flexible hours. There are specialist recruitment agencies who bring together people looking for flexible work and the jobs that can be done flexibly. But these employers and ads and agencies are still the exception.
So instead of asking "why should we allow this person to work flexibly?" we should be asking "why shouldn't we?". We should ask at the start of the process: "is there a different way in which this role could be organised?" A way that would still get the task done. But a way that would allow whoever gets the job to balance work and home from the start.
Those of you here who are taking the lead - tell us, tell your colleagues in business, what you're doing. Let's have a debate about day one flexibility.

Conclusions

I'm going to finish where I began: in 10 years, the debate has changed almost beyond recognition. The signatories to the Work Wise concordat show that. Thank you for helping bring about that change.
But we mustn't forget that despite the advances, while we understand the benefits of "working smarter", there are still many employers who haven't joined us. There is more for us all to do. We need to keep talking and showing what can be done.
Congratulations on the lead you've shown. I look forward to working with you in the future.

Speech by Ruth Kelly MP on 16 May 2007