§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what creche facilities are provided by her Department; and at what cost. [44855]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) provide 145 full-time subsidised nursery places for departmental and agency staff at six sites. The actual number of children using the nurseries is higher than this figure due to many of the places being allocated on a part-time basis. The cost of nursery places and the amount of subsidy varies for each location.
School holiday playscheme places are also available to departmental and agency staff working at eight sites. The number of users varies at each site and for each school holiday period.
The overall cost of this provision for the HQ offices (York and London) during the 2001–02 financial year is estimated to be £60,000, which works out at approximately £17.86 per head of staff at those sites. In actual terms, the benefit per parent is higher as not all staff require child care support. Child care facilities at other sites are funded from local budgets and up to date figures are not available at short notice.
DEFRA keeps its child care provision arrangements under review.