Childcare Bill

I concur with my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton). The new clause is far too broad. The Government need to be far clearer about what they are trying to achieve with a measure that they seek to introduce at such a late stage in the consideration of the Bill. There is a real danger that parents throughout the country will be concerned about the level of information being collected on their children. It would be ironic if parents were dissuaded from using child-minding services because of concern about the collecting of information that would then be permitted about their child. We must examine closely what the clause seeks to achieve and whether the information powers that it contains are excessive to achieve the Government’s objectives. I hope that the Minister can confirm what the Government are seeking to achieve and why they need particular information. Perhaps it will be possible to be more specific about what information will be collected, by whom, by what powers, when, how regularly, where it will be stored, who will have access to the database, and perhaps the central control of the information. If so, the House would be able to say much more confidently whether the proposal before us is good or bad. I am worried that the reference to ““any information collator”” could include the Child Support Agency, and could apply to cases in which non-contact orders have been made. The new clauses do not make any reference to the Data Protection Act 1998, which may conflict with them. I find it difficult to believe that there is any information about the child care industry that it not made available to the Government. Can the Minister clarify the nature of the information that she lacks? The Opposition are struggling to understand why the new clauses are necessary.