A LINGERIE company has been praised by a Government minister for creating a thriving environment for working mums.

Fourteen of the 19 staff at Bella di Notte in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, are working mums, seven of whom are on flexible contracts.

Company founder Susan Johnson drew up the flexible working contracts to enable them to balance quality jobs with home and family life, by working from 9am to 3pm.

Deputy Minister for Women and Equalities Barbara Follett, has singled out the company for praise as an example to others.

Ms Johnson said: "I am now a working mum myself, but when I started my business ten years ago I was a working woman in a rural area.

For work, you had to commute to a city, which is quite arduous.

There was nothing interesting for women to do and get their teeth into. I wanted to offer them a working environment where they could organise their home life and working life together."

Ms Johnson, who has two children, Edward, three, and Jessica, 18 months, said the company had achieved the flexible hours despite being a 9am to 6pm business.

She said: "I was keen to do something realistic. Women wanted to work from nine to three, and if they could get these hours they could go back to work.

"We have to answer the phone from 9am to 6pm, so they have a flexible contract. On the odd day they work three to six and the rest of the week they work 9am to 3pm and have time off in the school holidays."

The Government Equalities Office has made Ms Johnson an Exemplar Employer, one of a selected group of employers which act as role models for others.

Ms Johnson designs the majority of the lingerie for the company with a turnover of £2m.

It is then made in Italy and returned to Yorkshire for its sale through mail order and internet.

Ms Follett said: "These exemplar employers show that businesses large or small can make real progress from the grassroots up by being creative about the way they support and nurture female talent."