Childcare Bill

My Lords, this is a welcome Bill which complements the 10-year strategy for childcare, the Children Act and other strategies put forward for children. It again reflects the Government’s emphasis on the welfare of children. The duties on local authorities also extend the existing children’s information service as outlined in the schools White Paper Higher Standards, Better Schools for All. The All-Party Group on Children—I declare an interest as its chair—has held two meetings on the Bill, one with the Minister with responsibility for children, Beverley Hughes, at which many noble Lords present today were also present. I shall put forward some of the issues raised by those meetings. I am grateful to numerous groups that have sent briefings on the Bill, including the Early Years Forum, Mencap, the LGA, the Pre-school Learning Alliance, the National Day Nurseries Association, Working Families and the Tree House. My comments, like some of the comments of other noble Lords, will touch on many of the issues that they have raised. However, I shall draw in particular on the child impact assessment on the Bill carried out by the National Children’s Bureau and the Children’s Rights Alliance, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. I want also to raise an issue of my own, which is how grandparents and their status fit into all of that. In the All-Party Group on Children meeting with Beverley Hughes, she emphasised that the Bill would be the legislative basis for the childcare strategy and Every Child Matters programme. As the Minister has said today, it will be part of the drive to transform the life chances of those who are disadvantaged. Research shows time and again that lack of material, emotional and intellectual support and stimulus for children in the early years can lead to serious disadvantage and lack of aspiration in later years. It is therefore vitally important to strive to get early years provision right. That is what we are trying to do. In that meeting with the Minister for Children, some of the issues raised were about provision for disabled children, sustainability and affordability for parents, workforce training, childcare for working parents, the implications of the early years foundation stage and the relationship between the private and voluntary sectors. Many of those issues have already been raised by other noble Lords. I shall therefore turn to the concerns expressed in the child impact assessment. I should say first that the process of child impact assessment involves the analysis of proposed legislation to determine its likely effect on children and young people. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child underlines its considerations. I shall address four issues which are brought up by the child impact assessment on this Bill: involving the child, working and non-working parents, registration disqualification, and the early years foundation stage. The first is the contribution of children to society, one of the outcomes of Every Child Matters which has already been referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. In the Bill at the moment, children are absent from the list of those to be consulted by local authorities under Clause 3, on how the co-ordination of services in a particular area happens. Under Clause 11, local authorities have a duty to undertake a ““childcare assessment”” of the sufficiency of childcare in their local area and must consult with groups of persons prescribed. Again, that does not include the voice of the child. I turn next to working parents. Clause 6 places a duty on local authorities to secure sufficient childcare for working parents. This clause may be detrimental to children in households where parents choose to stay at home. Children benefit from interaction with other children, and parents may also benefit from a break from caring. Others have addressed the issue on disability, the noble Lord, Lord Rix, in particular. Suffice it to say on disability that the child impact assessment to which I referred earlier considers that the rights of disabled children may be infringed under certain articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. I have a query about registration and disqualification of those caring for children. The Secretary of State may provide exemptions from the requirement to register for early years childminders, early years providers, later years childminders for children under eight and other later years providers for children under eight. Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says that states parties must ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care and protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the area of safety, health, and the number and suitability of staff, as well as competent supervision. Crèches are already exempt from registration under the Bill. I feel there is a loophole here in that the Secretary of State’s powers to exempt certain groups of childcarers could endanger the children involved. I turn now to my question on grandparents, a matter on which the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, touched. Where exactly do grandparents fit into childcare? Some grandparents, with great hardship, are caring for their grandchildren single-handed—for example, if their own child is using drugs or in prison or dead. That is not informal care; it is a job. These grandparents have a very indistinct profile and little financial help although they save the state a great deal of money. What is their status? I move now to the early years foundation stage, again referred to by others. Clauses 39 to 48 bring together the current Birth to Three Matters framework, the curriculum guidance for the foundation stage and the national day care and childminding standards for under-eights. Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that the aim of education is to develop the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential. I welcome that emphasis. A child who has been brought up in a stimulating environment has enormous advantages in later years. Structure is essential for this, in whatever setting. It has been known for children to be left sitting or lying down with no stimulus or left to run around in a chaotic fashion. Children need a variety of learning through play such as art, books, water play, clay and physical challenge. Those activities should be offered to children as part of all good early years provision, and children learn thereby about choice. I am avoiding the word ““taught””, as I think the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, would, as it may encourage the idea of too much formality too soon. Children should be offered a choice of structured play from which they learn, and information is needed on this provision. I am aware that this was discussed on Report in another place but I am still unclear about the detail of what and how. The Early Childhood Forum welcomes the Bill as the first piece of government legislation to focus solely on very young children and on childcare. Its concerns are reflected in some of my previous comments and in the comments of others, but in particular the forum points out that a continuous quality improvement mechanism should be provided. Workforce development, the introduction of the early years foundation stage and new regulations and inspections must be supported by such a continuous quality improvement mechanism, and developments should be linked together to achieve high-quality services for children. How will that be guaranteed? All of this Bill interests me. I have had time to focus on only a few areas that I think can be further refined. I look forward to the Minister’s response and to our deliberation on the Bill in this House.