Childcare Bill

I shall speak briefly on amendment No. 1, which seeks to remove the general duty on a local authority to"““reduce inequalities between young children in their area””" and replace that with"““show how it is raising the quality of outcomes of the most disadvantaged””." After we debated the matter in Committee, it was still unclear why the Conservative Opposition want to remove the provision, and their position remains unclear. In Committee, Conservative Members argued that each child should be treated individually and not in relation to another child. The Bill includes a general duty to improve the well-being of young children in an area, and the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr. Gibb) suggested in Committee that there could be a perceived duty in some areas to make it more difficult for the best nurseries, because by allowing them to flourish inequalities are somehow increased, although I am not sure how that would happen.