HC Deb 17 December 1998 vol 322 cc668-70W
Jackie Ballard

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what plans his Department has to raise the standards of care and safety for over-eight year olds in child care provision; [64115]

(2) what plans he has to extend the regulations of child care to those providing care for the over-eights; [64116]

(3) what estimate his Department has made of the cost of registering those caring for children over eight years of age. [64118]

Ms Hodge

The consultation paper on the regulation of early education and day care, issued earlier this year by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Employment, asked whether there should be regulation of day care for children over 8-years-old and, if so, in what form. The Government are considering the responses and will announce their intentions in due course, mindful of the need to ensure children in day care are suitably protected from harm. The cost of any extension to current arrangements will be considered along with all other factors.

Jackie Ballard

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what research his Department has commissioned on parents' views about(a) the quality of child care provision and (b) the system of registration of child carers. [64117]

Ms Hodge

We have commissioned a baseline survey of parents of children aged up to and including 14 years to establish nationally the demand for child care. This survey will ask parents about the overall quality of child care in the local area. Parents' opinions of the registration of child carers have not been surveyed, although a number of individuals responded to the Government's recent consultation paper on the regulation of early education and day care.

Mr. Jim Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment by what means the National Child Care Strategy will be targeted, with particular reference to the City of Coventry. [63503]

Ms Hodge

[holding answer 14 December 1998]: To date, a total of £470 million has been committed to the National Child Care Strategy in England over five years. Planning and implementation of the Strategy in England is being taken forward at local level by the new Early Years Development and Child Care Partnerships which have been set up in each local authority area.

Key elements of funding are as follows:

In 1998–99, £12 million has been allocated to Partnerships to carry out local child care audits, consult on demand and draw up plans for the delivery of increased provision next year. This has been allocated on the basis of the number of 0–14 year olds in each Partnership area. The City of Coventry allocation for this work is £81,000. Over the same period, some £22.1 million has been made available to fund the Out of School Child Care Initiative (OSCI), of which £378,000 has been allocated to Coventry and Warwickshire through the local Training and Enterprise Council. In addition, Coventry Local Education Authority has received £87,000 this year through Nursery Education Grant.

For 1999–2000, my Department has allocated £44 million to the Partnerships for child care activities, which includes £6.7 million to safeguard existing good quality services in disadvantaged areas, which are at risk of closure. These funds have again been allocated on the basis of the number of 0–14 year olds in each area, adjusted to take account of the levels of deprivation in each area as reflected by the proportion of children receiving free school meals. For 1999–2000, the City of Coventry Partnership has been allocated a total of £309,700. Nursery Education Grant will again be available to support additional places for 4 year olds, and we shall be announcing support for 3 year olds shortly. Next year's Revenue Support Grant allocation also includes substantial funds to support additional registration and inspection of child care services and the requirement to set up a local Children's Information Service in each Partnership area. A further £7 million is also being made available to TECs next year for training for child care workers: £776,500 of this has been allocated to the West Midlands, but a breakdown at local level is not yet available.

Coventry's education Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) represents an increase of £6.1 million, or 4.1 per cent. over the comparable figure for 1998–99. Part of this may be used to support the National Child Care Strategy.

In addition there is a range of other potential sources of funding which Early Years Development and Child Care Partnerships, local authorities, individuals and other groups can bid for to support National Child Care Strategy objectives. This includes the New Opportunities Fund, which will allocate some £220 million across the UK by 2003 to create new out of school child care places, the Single Regeneration Budget and the European Social Fund.