§ Mr. GoodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent changes he has made to the regulation of child care; and if he will make a statement. [172854]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 13 May 2004]: We have made two sets of significant changes to the regulation of child care since the national standards for under 8s day care and childminding came into force in the summer of 2001. First, in April 2003, we introduced regulations enabling the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the national registration authority for child care in England, to suspend a provider's 693W registration in certain circumstances, for example, where there were concerns about their suitability to look after children. Second, the national standards and associated regulations were revised in September 2003, following a public consultation. Amongst the changes were new rules allowing childminders to care for more babies and preventing them from smacking or smoking in front of the children in their care. At this time we also extended the registration requirements to child care provided by schools, which had previously been exempt.
Further changes to improve the regulation of child care are under consultation at present and are planned for introduction in September 2004.