A PLAN to help new parents with enhanced and extended parental leave will be announced by the First Minister today.

During a visit to Lanark and Hamilton East, Nicola Sturgeon will outline the SNP plan to extend shared parental leave to 64 weeks, with the additional 12 weeks to be ring-fenced for the father to encourage take-up.

The SNP leader expressed the importance of changing societal expectations around paternity leave.

She went on: “Based on international examples, our plan for ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ months available only to the dad – in addition to the year available to new mums – could be a game-changer.”

She added alongside proposals for increased statutory pay and stronger protections against redundancy for new parents, the plan could have a “radical impact”.