§ Lord Braine of Wheatleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What assistance is given to staff in government departments towards crèche facilities.
Earl HoweDepartments and agencies have delegated responsibility to establish nursery and childcare schemes for the use of children of civil servants.
Departments wishing to establish a workplace nursery must be able to justify it in terms of value for money and contain the cost within existing running costs. Parents wishing to use any of these schemes are normally required to make a contribution to the costs comparable to private sector schemes.
Nationally, 53 Civil Service nurseries and about 120 school holiday playschemes have been established. In addition, the Civil Service is in partnership with other organisations in 22 more nurseries and buys places in 16 further nurseries.