§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what nursery accommodation is available to Her Majesty's Ministers in their Departments. [40265]
The Deputy Prime MinisterDepartments and agencies have delegated responsibility to establish nursery and childcare schemes for 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 661W wishing to use any of these schemes are normally required to make a contribution to the costs, comparable to private sector schemes.
Ministers of the Crown are able to make use of a departmental nursery on the same basis as civil servants.
Nationally, 53 civil service nurseries have been established and 120 holiday play schemes run during school holidays. In addition, the civil service is in partnership with other organisations in 23 nurseries and buys places in 16 others.