Childcare Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2016-01-25
Topic: Education
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend, who is a former Chairman of the Education Committee, and he is absolutely right. At least 300,000 fewer children are living in workless households this year than in 2010. I had a conversation in my constituency on Friday with the local co-ordinator for those at risk of being excluded from school, and he said how much of an impact seeing a parent or parents getting up and going out to work has on children, their work ethic and their ability to think about their work and career choices in the future We will consult on the proposals on the early years funding formula in due course. We are lucky to have in this country a thriving childcare market that is well placed to begin delivering the 30 hours entitlement. The market showed with the introduction of the two-year-old offer that it can respond quickly and effectively to deliver increased places and meet parental demand. That is why we have felt able to bring forward by a year the introduction of the extended entitlement for early testing in a series of areas. However we are not complacent about ensuring that sufficient places are available and are taking further steps to build capacity. That includes creating nursery provision as part of new free schools, and an additional £50 million of capital funding to support the creation of early years places for the free entitlement. We are confident that the capital investment, combined with an attractive, increased rate to providers, will also enable them to seek further investment to expand their offer We are committed to ensuring that the free entitlements are flexible and can be accessed in a way that fits with parents’ working patterns. The early implementation areas will look at ways to encourage different and diverse types of providers to enter the market and will incentivise innovative approaches to providing flexibility in terms of the type and timing of childcare on offer. Alongside that, we are consulting on a new right to request for parents. That right will allow parents to request that their children’s school makes their premises available for providers to offer childcare. That will not only ensure that parents who already have children of school age do not have to move their children between different places, but will also lead to an increase in the number of childcare places on offer Throughout the passage of the Bill through the House and the other place, there have rightly been lengthy discussions about the issues that matter most to parents—flexibility, quality and access for children with special educational needs and disabilities. I am clear that the Bill and the subsequent roll-out of the extended entitlement will be better because of that scrutiny. Parliament’s scrutiny will not end with the Bill: as agreed in Committee, regulations made to support the 30 hours free entitlement will be debated and approved by both Houses on their first use, ahead of early implementation later this year. Ahead of bringing the regulations back to Parliament, my Department will run a full consultation on the regulations and statutory guidance for local authorities. I look forward to engaging with providers, local authorities and parents over this period so that we can be certain we are getting it right and ensure that parents get what they need from this offer. Before I conclude, let me thank all hon. Members who served on the Bill Committee and all those who provided written evidence. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Mr Gyimah), for steering the Bill through the House and his work on the childcare task force to prepare for implementation. I also thank officials in my Department and here in the House for their support As I said earlier, the Bill starts with one goal—to help working families with the cost of childcare. I hope that the Bill will now make further progress quickly so that early implementation of 30 hours free childcare can begin and parents across the country can start realising the benefits that this significant offer provides.