Oral Answers to Questions

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Monday 11th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Allen (South Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

11. When she plans to publish the Government’s strategy on the safeguarding of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

23. When she plans to publish the Government’s strategy on the safeguarding of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Robert Goodwill)]

The safeguarding strategy, bringing together all work in this area and setting out further detail, will be published later this autumn.

[Mr Goodwill]

We had a general election this year, which derailed some of the timetables for these things, but it is certainly absolutely vital that all unaccompanied children seeking asylum have access to independent legal advice and are referred to the Children’s Panel.

[Tulip Siddiq]

Statistics from the organisation Every Child Protected Against Trafficking show that just in 2015, 593 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children went missing from care. Charities such as the Refugee Council and the Children’s Society have recommended that independent guardians be appointed for such children, to protect them in future. Will the Minister consider this in the safeguarding strategy?

[Mr Goodwill]

I was the immigration Minister until just recently and worked in this area. We were well aware of the fact that some of the relatives who took children in under the Dublin regulation had not had much contact with the families beforehand and that that might not have worked out very well, but I am certainly happy to look at what the hon. Lady is saying, particularly in the light of her experience with Amnesty and Save the Children.

Free Childcare Entitlement

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Wednesday 6th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Goodwill]

I absolutely agree with my hon. and learned Friend, while recognising that some mothers and, indeed, fathers may see caring for their child at home as their priority—sadly, many do not have a choice in that because of the finances of the household. However, this policy is delivering the opportunity for more women to get into the workplace, and I have already heard from women who have taken on more hours or started a job when they could not previously afford to go to work at all.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

Last year, in a Westminster Hall debate, the then childcare Minister told me I was scoring cheap political points and should be ashamed of myself when I raised the issue of funding policies and of how nurseries were at threat of closure because of this policy. Recently, a Pre-school Learning Alliance survey said that one in three nurseries fears being driven out of business because of this policy. What action is the Minister taking to ensure our nurseries do not close because of this flagship policy from the Government?

[Mr Goodwill]

I am surprised the hon. Lady has been accused of making cheap political points. I have known her for some time, and she has never made such points to me. I can assure her that we have looked carefully at the costs of delivery. There will be nurseries that, because of their business plan, are not going to deliver 30 hours, but there are nurseries that were not delivering 15 hours —indeed, there is one in my village, which is connected to a fee-paying prep school, that will not participate. However, there will be choice for parents who might want to go for a different type of nursery education—maybe with longer hours, or with different types of trips and other services—that other families might not wish to choose.