Child Care (Hansard, 6 January 2004)

§ Dr. Tonge
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the definition is of approved child care. [144708]

§ Margaret Hodge
[holding answer 18 December 2003]: The Tax Credits Act 2002 allows parents using approved child care to claim for help with the costs of that child care through the tax credit system. Details of the types of care that are approved for this purpose can be found in the Inland Revenue leaflet—"WCT5—Help with the costs of child care". Copies of the leaflet can be found in the House of Commons Library.

§ Dr. Tonge
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many parents make use of approved child care. [145446]

§ Margaret Hodge
[holding answer 5 January 2004]: In 2002 the Department published the Repeat Study of Parental Demand for Childcare. This provides information about the use of early years and child care providers by parents with children aged 14 and under in England.
Just over half of families (52 per cent. or 2.76 million) had used either early years education or some other formal child care provider (registered childminders, creche/nursery provider, out of school clubs and holiday schemes) in the past year. Almost a third (32 per cent.) reported using this type of provision in the past week.