§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what official research has already been carried out into the extent of illegal child-minding in Great Britain; what it revealed; and what action is being taken to implement its conclusions;
(2) what action he is taking, in the light of the preliminary findings of the Advisory Centre for Education, to ensure that illegal child-minding can be ended through the provision of adequate day centres for working mothers by either statutory or voluntary services.
§ Sir K. JosephNo official research has been undertaken. The Social Science Research Council has recently made a grant to the Advisory Centre for Education for a research project in this area and this is expected to start in the autumn. The legislation which provides for the control of child-minding was substantially strengthened in 1968 when the penalties for unregistered child-minders were increased. Within the resources available we give priority to day care projects both in the urban programme and in the normal capital programme for the social services.