§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, if he will make a statement on the creche facilities available to the children of his Department's staff. [121117]
§ Mr. LammyMy Department has 45 bought-in nursery places, and during the past year, provided 78 holiday playscheme places. These cost approximately £103,000 during the past year: £94,000 on subsidised nursery places (at a cost of £2,350 per child per annum); and £9,000 on subsidized playscheme places during school holidays (at a cost of £115 per place).
We are currently conducting a review to establish whether other forms of child care such as vouchers and after-school care could supplement existing provision. Departmental child care subsidies were reduced to 25 per cent. of the cost in order to assist a greater number of employees with a more flexible child care package.
122WThe development of a Playscheme Pack to support regional holiday playscheme initiatives is already under way.
My Department has participated actively in an interdepartmental working party in collaboration with the Daycare Trust to develop a new child care strategy for Civil Service employees. We are contributing to the development of a toolkit to assist Departments in making a business case for the provision of child care and the establishment of a central database of information about setting up child care initiatives.