Childcare Bill

I support Amendment No. 14 and shall speak to Amendment No. 30, which would ensure that the Government issued guidance defining ““reasonably practicable”” and ““sufficient””. We are anxious to see set out the factors that local authorities must consider when assessing and securing childcare provision. That will help to give parents a clearer understanding of what they can expect from local authorities. As was discussed at some length last week, the Bill places a duty on local authorities to improve outcomes for young people, and to narrow the gap between the poorest and the rest. Crucially, this duty to provide childcare focuses solely on meeting the needs of working parents, or those in training for work. Yet we know from the Government’s own child poverty review that, of the 2.6 million children living in low-income households, roughly half—in some of the poorest families in the country—are in workless households. Amendment No. 14 therefore broadly raises the question of what is deemed ““sufficient””. Local authorities need specific guidance from the Secretary of State, not just on the general provision of childcare but on what the Government regard as ““reasonably practicable”” and ““sufficient””. The Bill states that local authorities must have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State. Will the Minister assure us that these matters—the detailed issues and what happens to workless families—will be addressed in guidance? Local authorities need to be clear on what this new duty requires them to do in practice, and how they will be judged when they have to deliver it. For example, will the assessment of the demand for childcare include an analysis of the demand in relation to cost, quality, type or hours of childcare? What about the degree of choice parents can have? All these issues must be answered. Local authorities will need guidance to provide childcare regarded as ““sufficient””.