§ Mrs. Ann CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment she has made of the likely impact on nursery place availability and funding in the Keighley constituency of her Department's measures to get lone parents on benefit into work. [32586]
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§ Mr. Keith Bradley[holding answer 4 March 1998]: The Government are committed to the delivery of a National Childcare Strategy that will provide a range of good quality, affordable and accessible childcare in every neighbourhood, meeting the needs of children and offering choice to parents. This will include help to lone parents who choose to take up work. To meet that commitment, we are investing £300 million over the next five years to expand out of school provision, providing additional places for up to 1 million children. In addition, to ensure that work pays for families with children, we propose a working families tax credit, backed up by affordable childcare.
The Government will be working closely with local government and childcare providers in the voluntary, public and private sectors in order to build effective partnerships across the country and to ensure that local provision is matched to local need.
We do not have details of the extent to which existing provision for childcare will meet the additional demand created by the New Deal for Lone Parents in individual areas.