§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals the Government have to encourage the provision of more workplace nurseries at affordable cost to parents. [38417]
§ Mr. Alan HowarthWe are keen to persuade employers of the benefits of helping employees with their childcare needs. Workplace nurseries are one way of doing this, but other ways may be more appropriate for, in particular, smaller companies.
Employers can claim their day-to-day expenditure on childcare provision or subsidies for their employees as an allowable expense when calculating their business profits for tax purposes. And the childcare tax credit announced in the Budget will make childcare more affordable for working parents.
Our national childcare strategy Green Paper, which we will be publishing in the next few weeks, will be considering how companies can be encouraged to adopt more "family-friendly" policies.