Childcare Bill

The amendments fall into two groups. I shall leave amendment No. 49 until the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) has spoken to it. New clause 5 and Government amendments Nos. 22, 23, 24, 25, 28 and 29 enable the Secretary of State to make regulations disqualifying from registration persons who are barred from working in schools on the grounds of ill health and those who have been cautioned by the police for an offence. Amendments Nos. 19, 20 and 21 add to the Bill specific mention that regulations which govern the activities of providers registered under part 3 may deal with arrangements for safeguarding the children concerned. That arises from my consideration following our deliberations in Committee, so I hope that that small group of amendments, at least, will please Opposition Members and that we may get some kind words about them. We will wait and see. Paragraph 4 of schedule 9A to the Children Act 1989 sets out certain grounds on which an individual can be disqualified from providing day care or child minding. Individuals can already be disqualified from providing child care on the grounds of convictions for sexual and violent offences, or orders that show that such a person is unsuitable to work with children, or because his name is included on the Protection of Children Act list, or because the person is subject to a direction under section 142 of the Education Act 2002—in other words, the person is on List 99, on the grounds that he is unsuitable to work with children. In light of the statement from the Secretary of State on 19 January following an urgent review of barring procedures in schools, two small additions have been identified that are necessary to ensure that disqualification from providing child care works on a similar basis to disqualification in schools. The additions are those whose names are recorded on List 99 on the grounds of ill health. Such directions are made when, for example, a person has a medical condition such as alcohol or substance misuse which means that they are considered to pose a threat to the safety or welfare of children. We also want to include those who have received a caution from the police for particular offences, and we intend to use that power in relation to cautions received for serious sexual or violent offences. As a caution involves an admission of guilt, we want to include disqualification on the grounds of cautions in respect of any of the offences currently listed in the disqualification regulations that might otherwise result in a conviction. That change to the current legislation will ensure that we can provide additional safeguards at the earliest possible opportunity. Hon. Members have already referred to the new Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill, and when the new system comes into force, the Secretary of State will require the same powers, which is why we have introduced amendments Nos. 22 to 25. On amendments Nos. 19 to 21, we have made it clear throughout that children should be safeguarded and protected from harm and neglect when they are in the care of a child care provider. Hon. Members will recall that during the last day in Committee I made a commitment to look further into whether the Bill should be amended explicitly to address the issue of safeguarding. That commitment was in response to amendments that sought to place a duty on early and later years providers to consider the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. We have considered the matter further and have concluded that that point was well made and that such a provision should be included in the Bill. When children are in the care of a child care provider, it is crucial that they are safeguarded and protected from harm. We propose to strengthen and make explicit the position of safeguarding in the Bill. Rather than introducing an overarching duty with a power to make statutory guidance, we have decided to make it clear in the Bill that matters which may be dealt with by regulations include ““arrangements for safeguarding”” as well as"““the welfare of the children concerned””." Amendments Nos. 19 to 21 will send a clear signal to providers that they are responsible for safeguarding children in their care, which will hopefully contribute to the creation of a culture and ethos that reflects that responsibility. The requirements will be set out in secondary legislation, and they will be checked as part of the registration and inspection arrangements. They will be mandatory, and a breach by a provider may result in registration being removed. Such requirements may include the implementation of the appropriate child protection procedures based on current national standards. In addition, providers must meet certain registration requirements in order to be registered in the first place, including that they are not unsuitable to work with young children. They will not be granted registration if, for example, there is information on enhanced criminal records disclosures that suggests that they are unsuitable to work with children.