§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what child care provision is made640W available by his Department for the use of staff; what is the cost to parents of this child care; how many parents used the facilities in the financial years (a) 1996–97 and (b) 1997–98; and what proportion of total staff used these facilities in the financial years (i) 1996–97 and (ii) 1997–98. [59726]
§ Mr. MudieThe Department is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for its staff and supports a range of child care and family friendly policies which help staff to balance family and working life. We are considering how our child care and family provision could be further developed.
The Department currently supports holiday playscheme facilities on all of the Department's four headquarters sites. It also provides nursery facilities on its Runcorn and Sheffield sites. Facilities are often shared with other government organisations, in particular with the Employment Service HQ in Sheffield and with the Office for National Statistics in Runcorn.
Because on site facilities require a high level of investment, parents using Departmental child care schemes are normally required to make a contribution towards the cost, comparable to private sector schemes.
The current weekly DfEE nursery cost to parents are: Runcorn £63; Sheffield £57.
The current weekly playscheme costs to parents are: Darlington £32.50; London £40; Runcorn £40; Sheffield £32.50.
The number of parents and proportion of staff using these facilities are as set in the table.
Number of parents Proportion of total staff (%) 1996–97 290 5.8 1997–98 283 6.3