At Second Reading, I raised considerable concerns about the lack of a definition of working parents. I welcome the contributions so far, which have tried to expand the definition of working parents that the Minister gave at Second Reading, which is now written in the policy statement he provided at the end of last week. If the Government’s aim is to enable more people to go out to work by providing additional free childcare, I think we need a wider definition than that the Minister provided.
I am particularly concerned about people who go into education and training. They, too, ought to qualify for the additional 15 hours’ free childcare. We know two things. One is that many young parents have missed out, somewhere along their route through life, on accessing further education or training, either by choice or not. We also know that skill levels in this country are not as high as we would like them to be. One of the best ways back into the workforce is by gaining extra skills or qualifications through further or higher education. The Government ought to be enabling and encouraging this to happen by including parents in education or training in their definition of working parents. I urge the Minister to consider that addition seriously.
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More broadly, I suggest that another entry point for a parent who has been out of the workforce caring for children is through an apprenticeship. The Government rightly encouraged apprenticeships—I am proud to say that my party promoted this strongly during our period in government—as a way of gaining skills and getting back into the workforce in secure jobs. It seems beyond debate that a parent in an apprenticeship ought to be part of the definition of a working parent in the Bill. We know from the figures for apprenticeships that many apprentices are parents in their late 20s going back into the workforce. Including them in the definition of a working parent would enable many more parents to get skills and training via apprenticeships.
It would be unfortunate if we were to exclude people who are on so-called zero-hours contracts and unable to say that they can work eight hours a week. These parents are often on low incomes, because the jobs on offer on such contracts are often poorly paid. They are the very people who would benefit from additional access to free childcare. They are working; they will not be able to substantiate the hours that they work, but they ought to be included because it gives them a route back into the workforce. The Minister has already described this as important because of the additional income it brings to the family.
I strongly support what the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, has said about carers. She talked in particular about grandparents raising children. I would extend that to parents who are caring, for example, for elderly parents who need particular care. They are, in many ways, working; they are just not paid for it. I hope that including them in the definition will enable them to do it without penalising their children. That is my fourth category.
The fifth category I should like to see added to the definition of working parents is those who do voluntary work. If someone has left school at the earliest possible
moment with limited qualifications and has never gone into work but has had a family, one route back into gaining skills and learning what it is like to go to work is via voluntary work. There are many bodies around this country that encourage people, particularly those in less advantaged areas, to work in local charity shops or luncheon clubs to help them get a feel for what it means to go out to work. Again, we can encourage that if we include it within the definition of a working parent. That would focus our care on those most disadvantaged families in the most deprived areas and would show the degree of care and compassion that I hope we can achieve through the Bill and its implementation. I hope the Minister will seriously consider those aspects and broaden the definition to include some of the things that we have raised this evening.