Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Karl Turner

Monday 19th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

8. What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in child care costs on the affordability of nursery care for families on low and medium incomes.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

13. What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in child care costs on the affordability of nursery care for families on low and medium incomes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

The cost of some of the most popular forms of child care has come down. We have seen that with nurseries, for example: the cost of nurseries is down by 2%, and the cost of childminders is down by 13%. But we are not complacent: we are funding 15 hours of free child care for all three and four-year-olds and all disadvantaged two-year-olds, and we are introducing tax-free child care for working families. This should be compared with the record of the previous Government, under which the cost of child care went up by 50% between 2002 and 2010.