§ Dr. MurrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of crèche provision for NHS employees. [63821]
§ Mr. HuttonA national survey of national health service provision, undertaken early in 2001, found that 114 NHS trusts provided nursery facilities for their staff. The Government recognise that there is a need to provide support for parents working in the NHS in order to be a good employer, to improve the working (and home) lives of staff, and to recruit, retain and return key staff. For this reason, we have made over £70 million available for the NHS child care strategy, to develop an additional 150 further on-site nursery schemes by 2004. 60 new nursery schemes were funded last year and a further 30 have had funding allocated already this year. In addition, we expect all new build hospitals to include an on-site nursery in its plans.
We are expanding the NHS child care strategy to cover other forms of child care and to ensure that all staff groups are included. We have pledged additional funding for the NHS child care, building up to £100 million, to do this.