Childcare Bill

I am pleased to support the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Rix, to which my name is added. The noble Lord has spoken with his usual passion, knowledge and conviction on this issue. I thank Mencap and the coalition of disability and children’s organisations for their excellent, if upsetting, briefing on this subject. The Government have recognised that mentally and physically disabled children are less independent than non-disabled children and more often than not require formal childcare for longer. If so, I question why this legislation proposes to cover only the category of children up to the age of 16, leaving as the noble Lord, Lord Rix, has said, this crucial two-year gap, which is covered by previous legislation. The gap will mean that a disabled child is too young to qualify for adult services, and yet is too old for children’s services. More often than not, these children are also in a situation where after-school clubs or leisure provision do not specialise in their needs and are thus inaccessible to them. What assessment did the Government carry out in preparation for this Bill of the provision that parents of disabled children need to allow them to work, volunteer or undertake education or training? There is serious concern that without provision for disabled children up to 18 you are removing parents’ choice to work outside school hours, just as we have heard in the tale of Sophie. Already, more than half of all families with a disabled child are living in poverty or on the margin of poverty. Childcare for disabled children costs twice as much as that for children who are not disabled, yet 84 per cent of mothers of disabled children are out of work to allow them to care for their child. There is no one else who can help. It is clear that already there is a shortfall in provision for children with disabilities, yet the Government still propose this gap between 16 and 18. Surely the amendment can only have a positive effect on this bleak situation, enabling such parents to work and thus reducing poverty among these most disadvantaged families. Not only that, but it would help to consolidate childcare provision throughout the age range of disabled children. I suggest that there is no barrier to local authorities joining forces on issues such as the provision of childcare for the disabled and sharing information about services in neighbouring areas, or even working on cross-border schemes with the private and voluntary sectors. I hope that the Minister will at least commit to seriously considering this proposal between now and Report—unless he will accept the amendment today. I finish by quoting the Children’s Commissioner, Al Aynsley-Green:"““Every child deserves the highest quality services. We need to ensure that services adapt to the needs of disabled children rather than the family adapting to services””."