Childcare Bill

I listened with great interest to the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs. Miller) because, as many of us recall, the subject matter of amendment No. 1 generated a great deal of debate in Committee. I explained at the time that I had intended to support it—until I heard the arguments for it. Despite the fine words that we have just heard, amendment No. 1 would rip the heart out of the Bill. It is essential that ““reduce inequalities”” be left in. I was interested in the Conservative amendment because it had been pointed out to me that inequalities could be reduced by pulling the more advantaged down. Despite clause 1(1)(a), I still have a concern that that could happen, so I tabled amendment No. 34, with which I tried to achieve the best of all worlds. I stole the Conservatives’ words, left in ““inequalities”” and added paragraph (c) to make the same point. As a belt and braces measure I tabled another amendment, which was not selected but might be even better. If paragraph (a) read"““improve the well-being of every young child in their area””." That sounds like quite an undertaking, but the phrase ““every young child”” is used elsewhere, so there is a precedent. I could not support amendment No. 1 which, by removing ““reduce inequalities””, would undermine everything in the Bill. Several amendments refer to targets. We discussed that in Committee and we are all concerned about targets being centrally set and possibly having unintended consequences. There is an argument for requiring the monitoring of performance, rather than the setting of targets. Our amendment No. 11 relates to the duty to provide information, advice and assistance. My hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Mr. Williams) proposes that clause 12(1) should state:"““An English local authority must establish and maintain a service providing information, advice and assistance for families in accordance with this section.””" I have previously expressed great concern about the fact that in the entire Bill there is no mention of families. This, if anywhere, is where such a reference should be. We want advice for parents and support for children, but the relationships and dynamics within the family are greater than the sum of its parts, whatever form the family unit takes. If clause 12(1) included a reference to families, we would ensure that information about a raft of family support measures was available. That small amendment would greatly enhance the Bill. We have had a useful debate on this large group of amendments and tackled the underlying philosophy of the Bill. The wording of clause 1(1) and (3) could be improved to make doubly sure that we do not reduce inequalities by pulling the more advantaged down.