After-school Child Care (Hansard, 11 February 1999)

§ 7. Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes)
What progress has been made on introducing after-school child care places. [68878]

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Ms Margaret Hodge)
The national child care strategy is already having a positive impact locally. We have funded the creation of nearly 30,000 new out-of-school child care places and through the commitment of a wide range of partners we are on target to create 60,000 new places in England by April 1999.

§ Shona McIsaac
I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. It is good that everything is going so well. What is her view on an initiative by Grimsby college, my local further education college? It is called the weekend college and integrates education, training and child care so that while parents use weekends to retrain and acquire new skills, older children can participate in activities at the college and the little ones have a free child care place. Does my hon. Friend approve of that model of integration and would she like it to be used as an example elsewhere in the country?

§ Ms Hodge
Indeed, I applaud the initiative that has been taken by Grimsby college and join my hon. Friend in congratulating the college on that innovative development. The further education sector can make an important contribution to early education and child care and the integration of the two. That is why we have allocated £5 million this year and a further £5 million next year to create 20,000 places. The further education sector provides high-quality places for children and opportunities for adults to gain new skills and qualifications.

§ Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West)
We have already been regaled with plans to get children as young as three out of their homes and into school and now we 453 are being asked to consider keeping them in after school. Does not the Minister consider it any part of her job to encourage children to spend some time at home with a responsible parent?

§ Ms Hodge
We all know that parents are the prime educators and nurturers of their children. However, there have been enormous changes in working practices. More than 50 per cent. of mothers with children under five work. The Government need to provide a framework that enables flexibility and choice for parents to ensure that children get the best start in life and that parents do not have to choose between the jobs that they need and the children whom they love.

§ Mr. Syd Rapson (Portsmouth, North)
The working families tax credit, especially the child care element, is most welcome, but according to the Kids Clubs Network there is a great deal of ignorance about what is available. It would be a shame to lose the impetus before October. Will there be a promotional campaign to make sure that everyone knows about it? There should also be more providers, particularly in areas of need.

§ Ms Hodge
The working families tax credit is an important part of our strategy to expand child care and ensure that all families can afford it. We will indeed launch a promotional campaign, and I warmly welcome the introduction of the child care tax credit, not only because it will make child care affordable to more parents, but because it will enable us to improve the quality of much of that care and increase the quantity, so that we provide genuine flexibility and choice for all families.

§ Mr. Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath)
We welcome the fact that more after-school care will be made available, but before the Minister preens herself too obviously about the number of places created, as she did in reply to the hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), she should ask her civil servants to examine closely how much taxpayers' money has been provided and determine whether places have actually been created or whether best endeavours have merely been used to try to create them. The civil servants may tell her that, in a year or two, the National Audit Office may have to investigate that.

§ Ms Hodge
I have written to the hon. Gentleman and to all right hon. and hon. Members about the places that have already been created under our national child care strategy in their locality. We know that, within the first two years of this Government, we will have doubled the number of child care places available. In two years, we will have created twice as many places as the previous Government did in 18 years. That is only the start of an ambitious and successful programme to provide flexible and affordable high-quality child care.