Beverley Hughes, minister for children, has called for paternity leave to be doubled to a figure in the region of £200 per week. Hughes’ call for a better deal for dads comes a whopping two years after the Equal Opportunities Commission said pretty much the same thing, but it’s an encouraging sign that government thinking may be switching towards a more enlightened perspective.

Writing in a publication from Labour think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, Hughes added: “We need to help families negotiate the balancing act between care work and paid work, avoiding negative trade-offs between time and money.”