HC Deb 04 February 1991 vol 185 cc48-9W
Mr. Aspinwall

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to promote the development of child care for the under-fives.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Seven in eight or 86 per cent. of three and four-year-olds attend some form of day care or nursery education for part or more of the week which provides a good basis on which to expand services.

The Department has a major programme of activity designed to encourage the development of good quality childcare services across the country.

The current programme includes: implementation of the Children Act 1989 which will introduce a new more effective registration system and a duty for local social services departments and local education authorities to review every three years and publish a report on the day care services in their area; new guidance now in preparation on quality and standards of childcare services and education services for pre-school children, the new registration system and review duty; training materials project being funded to help local authority registration staff carry out their regulatory function efficiently, and to encourage local authorities to see themselves as facilitators helping providers run good quality services; support to the childcare voluntary sector including eleven national organisations in receipt of core grants totalling over £1.2 million in the current financial year and a small grants scheme involving seven national bodies allocating capital sums to local groups now running for the fourth year; new centrally-funded under fives initiative to test certain policy ideas on, for example, services for homeless families and lone parents; research projects into childminding and playgroups; the interdepartmental consultative group on provision for under fives on which DSS, DES, DOE, Home Office, Ministry of Defence, Scottish and Welsh Offices are represented together with representatives from the local authority associations, the voluntary sector, the private childcare sector and employer interests. The Group meets under my chairmanship to discuss matters of concern.

The policy which has evolved and developed over the years enables us to build on the strengths of our pattern of childcare services with its invaluable contribution from the voluntary sector and now from the increasingly interested private providers and employers.