Childcare Bill [Lords]

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. Childcare by childminders is very much part of the response. They are popular and flexible. We want to continue to do what we did in the last Parliament—to offer childcare business support grants, which enable people to set up in business as childminders; often they are women setting up in business for the first time. We welcome their contribution to this market.

Providers have demonstrated what they can do through the two-year-old free entitlement programme, with nearly 60% of eligible children accessing a place at the beginning of this year, four months after the entitlement was extended. Now we will increase our overall investment in the childcare sector and set an increased funding rate that will enable providers to deliver the entitlement and ensure fair value for the taxpayer.

The Chancellor has just made the autumn statement and he could not have demonstrated more clearly the Government’s commitment to funding the early years and childcare. In the last Parliament, we invested around £20 billion to support parents with childcare. The Chancellor’s announcement today, along with the funding announced at the Budget in the summer, mean that this Government will go even further and invest a record amount in childcare.

The Government will provide more support than any other in history, with, as I have mentioned, a package that includes rolling out tax-free childcare from 2017 and more support for families on universal credit. The extended entitlement means that working families will be entitled to receive an unprecedented increase in childcare support, with savings of up to £5,000 per child per year for working families. By 2019-20, we will be investing more than £1 billion a year to fund our manifesto pledge for 30 hours of childcare for working parents of three and four-year-olds.

As well as being the only party to commit to extending free childcare to 30 hours, at the general election we were the only party to commit to raise the average funding rate paid to providers. Today we are confirming we will do so.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Nicky Morgan]

I am going to make some progress on this paragraph and then I will come back to the hon. Lady.

The increase in funding includes nearly £300 million for a significant uplift to the rate paid for the two, three and four-year-old entitlements. That will deliver a new national average funding rate paid to providers. Both rates will increase by at least 30p per hour. For three and four-year-olds, the new average rate will be £4.88, including the early years pupil premium and the rate for two-year olds will be £5.39. With that increase we have set the level of funding that providers need to deliver high-quality childcare, while at the same time providing good value to the taxpayer. We will also consult on a package of reforms to improve efficiency in the sector and further ensure value for money. I can also confirm that the early years pupil premium will not change and is worth £50 million in 2015-16, helping to ensure that three and four-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have the best start in life.

The increase in the funding rate is supported by the robust review of the cost of childcare carried out over the last six months. Today that review is being published and will be made available in the Library of the House. I thank those who responded to the call for evidence as part of the review, as well as those who were involved in attending round table discussions across the country.The participation and engagement of organisations including the Pre-school Learning Alliance, the National Day Nurseries Association, the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, the Independent Schools Council and other key partners, meant we were able fully to understand the concerns and arguments around the funding of the entitlement.

As the Chancellor has also announced, we are committed to ensuring that funding is allocated in the fairest way. Next year, we will consult on an early years national funding formula, which will give due consideration to funding for disadvantaged children and to special educational needs funding for the early years.

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[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

I speak as a former teacher with 20 years’ experience in education, so I will speak from a personal point of view. I also plan to speak fairly briefly. I will speak in particular about clause 2 because there are issues with it.

Years ago, I worked at Glasgow University in a team that trained new teachers, from nursery teachers through to secondary science teachers. As part of that job, I had to visit students on their placements. I visited one student in a particularly deprived area of Glasgow. There was a small boy who had started school a few weeks before the visit and he had only one word in his vocabulary: “man”. He used that word for any adult or older pupil. He was not a child with special educational needs, but his language development was severely behind where it should have been. The hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) mentioned an 18-month developmental gap. For that particular child, the gap was closer to two years. That is a very difficult gap to make up.

Some great work was done by a Notre Dame sister who was a secondary head teacher in Liverpool. She came to Glasgow to look at inner-city schools and the difficulties that young children had in communicating and making their views known. She worked very closely with the parents and realised that early intervention was key. This nun, Doreen Grant, wrote a fabulous book called “Learning Relations”, which Members might want to tap into from time to time.

The proposal for 30 hours of childcare will be fantastic for working parents. It is extremely important and will make a massive difference to their lives. I therefore welcome it. However, we need to be careful about the language we use and should think about revising it. We keep talking about “childcare”. In Scotland, we talk about “early-years education”. The education programme starts at the age of three. I am talking not about formal education and learning to read and write, but about learning to communicate, learning about relationships and starting to work through a curriculum. There is a subtle but fundamental difference between the word “childcare” and the words “early-years education”. Childcare is about the parents. It is about supporting them, benefiting them and making their lives more convenient. Of course, it benefits the children as well—I am not denying that. However, early-years education is focused 100% on the children. It is about improving their life chances.

The Secretary of State said that the Conservative party was the only party to have in its manifesto a commitment to 30 hours a week of childcare. I am sure that was a slip-up, because of course the Scottish National party had a commitment to 30 hours’ early-years education in its manifesto. The difference, of course, was that that was for all children. We are talking about education as a way of increasing life chances and reducing inequality, so it is crucial that we do not limit it to families where both parents are in work. Clause 2 will further increase inequality, as the children most in need of a good start and early intervention could miss out.

I am concerned that three groups of parents are not fully addressed in the Bill. First, we have heard about children with disabilities, and I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to ensure that provision will be made for them, but what about parents with disabilities who are not able to work? Where will their children be left? They could be further excluded from society and miss out on chances. Extremely young children could have to take on a caring role, so I feel strongly that the provision set out in the Bill has to be increased to include parents with disabilities who are unable to work.

I am also concerned about grandparents, sometimes elderly grandparents, who look after children. No provision is made for them, and they too have to fulfil the requirement of being in work in order to access the 30 hours of childcare. We have an opportunity to make a real difference to those carers, who are unsung heroes in society.

The third group of parents I am concerned about is those on zero-hours contracts. The right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) mentioned flexible working, but what about those people? Unless we have a firm commitment to childcare provision for them, they will not be able to access it. That is really worrying.

There is a famous quote, which has been attributed to a lot of different people—“Give me the boy until he is seven and I will give you the man.” That is key, because what we do at the early stages makes such a difference. The Secretary of State talked about school-readiness and the difference that the 30 hours of childcare will make to young children when they go to school. Are we only going to ready children from some sectors of society? I urge the Secretary of State to expand the provision so that all children, particularly those from a disadvantaged background, can access it.

We have an opportunity to support both parents and children, and I urge the Secretary of State to follow the Scottish Government’s ambitious target of providing 30 hours of childcare—or better, 30 hours of early-years education—to all children.

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[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith).

As usual, the debate on childcare has been split between a conversation about maternal employment rates and productivity and questions about school readiness and childhood development, which the SNP spokesperson raised so effectively. I would give more credence to her view if the rates of social mobility in Scotland under the SNP Administration were higher, yet if we look at the number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds going into higher education in Scotland relative to England, we see that the SNP has not delivered what it promised.

[Carol Monaghan]

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman does not realise that one of the routes to higher education in Scotland is further education, but that the figures on that sector are not included in the UCAS statistics.

[Tristram Hunt]

I do know that fact, but if I were an SNP representative I would certainly not defend its role in further education. The SNP has supported higher education at the expense of further education, hammering the poor. I am being dragged away, however, from the Second Reading of the Childcare Bill.

As the shadow Secretary of State suggested, we can all welcome the Government’s policy of extending free childcare for three and four-year-olds to 30 hours a week for working families. This builds on the Labour party offer at the last general election of 25 hours of free childcare, which we were told was unaffordable and could never be delivered. More importantly, it builds on decades of work by hon. Members on both sides of the House in making the case. Any legislation that aims to tackle the childcare crisis, to increase maternal rates of employment and to generate long-term growth has to be welcomed, but over the last five years the Government have made it much harder for parents to find the childcare hours they need. Compared with 2010, there are more than 40,000 fewer childcare places, and six in 10 councils report that they do not have enough childcare available for working families—not least in Oxfordshire, where I know the Prime Minister is leading the anti-austerity movement.

At the same time, childcare prices are crippling families that are already under pressure with parents spending more than £1,300 extra on childcare than they did in 2010. In Stoke-on-Trent, costs have increased by almost 73%, so anything that attempts to redress those impacts on families is to be welcomed. The question, I think, is how it is to be funded.

I welcome the Chancellor’s announcements today of the £300 million of additional funding for the scheme to increase the hourly rate childcare providers will receive, once this measure is introduced from 2017-18, alongside the £50 million of capital investment to create additional places in nurseries to be brought in from the same year. As my hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) will explore in her incisive speech, however, the figures do not quite add up. We can reflect again on the irony that we were told during the election campaign that 25 hours was wholly unrealistic and could not be done, while the Government have now come up with some completely different figures. I am sure Chairman Mao would have had a witty aphorism about that.

This ignores the massive childcare places crisis that is hitting the sector now. As the shadow Secretary of State suggested, the Government’s free childcare policy is already vastly behind schedule. Today, Ofsted is announcing an 11,000 fall this year in the number of childcare places provided by nurseries. We are actually seeing a drop in the course of this year, which is leading to many providers having to close, resulting in a further shortage of places. In my own Stoke-on-Trent constituency, there are 74 fewer registered providers than in 2009, which is evidence that the underlying infrastructure needed to deliver the Government’s announcements today is creaking to breaking-point.

The Institute for Public Policy Research has warned in its recent report on the Bill’s implementation that if more childcare providers close it will drive down childcare quality, with poorer outcomes for children and less choice for parents as the market shrinks. In the face of increasing demand and decreasing provision, it is likely that the Government will have to deregulate childcare or weaken childcare ratios—we can go back to that old debate—to make the plan sustainable.

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[Carol Monaghan]

Surely the hon. Lady would agree that the very children she is talking about, who really need help to narrow the attainment gap, need additional early years education? The Bill will ensure the gap remains as it is.

[Lucy Frazer]

The Bill will enable two, three and four-year-olds to have the schooling they need. I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement that there will be a £1 billion increase in education spending, but I ask the Secretary of State not to lose this great opportunity to ensure that disadvantaged children get the best start in life.

In undertaking the pilots and the review next year, I ask the Secretary of State to take into account the points made to me by nursery providers in my constituency: to recognise the differences in nursery provision throughout the country and the scalability or otherwise of nurseries; to consider that rural and urban provision may be different; to recognise the different living costs of staff around the country, which may be high in Cambridgeshire; and to provide a rate that will enable providers to provide good quality and consistent education and care. If that is achieved, the Bill could be instrumental in our children’s futures, providing the best outcome for the next generation.

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[Mr Gyimah]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right that fewer families will access the additional hours, particularly among the well-off. It is right that we have introduced an income cap.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) made some fantastic points. I particularly welcome her suggestion that Hampshire participates as one of the early implementers of the policy, which I would definitely like to consider. She rightly mentioned childminders, who are often forgotten in debates on childcare. They offer excellent childcare based in the home, and they can offer parents much needed flexibility. We will look at the burdens of bureaucracy that affect them.

My right hon. Friend also mentioned the need to make the offer as simple as possible for parents, and we will examine that in detail. It should also be simple for providers, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said. We want not only to provide more money to the sector but to reform the system that underpins it. That means having a national funding formula that allows as much of that money as possible to get to the frontline. It also means examining the bureaucracy that means that a provider operating across different local authority areas has to have different contracts within different systems. We will look at that to ensure that providers can deliver as easily as possible.

The hon. Member for Glasgow North West (Carol Monaghan) made some good points about the distinction between childcare and early education. She is right to say that early education is about the child’s development, while childcare is about the parents. This policy ticks both boxes. The first 15 hours, which is the universal offer, applies to every child and is about school readiness, whereas the second 15 hours helps parents to work more hours. That said, I do not necessarily agree with her point about Scotland being a good example. Just 15% of Scottish local authorities, for example, said that they had enough childcare for working parents in 2015 compared with 23% in 2014. I do not think Scotland is the best example as regards sufficiency issues.

[Carol Monaghan]

Of course, we are talking about ambitious targets and the Minister is outlining his Government’s targets. Those targets are also ambitious, but targets are something that we work towards. We are working towards our targets, as I am sure the Minister will have to work towards his.

[Mr Gyimah]

I am glad to say that in England we have ambitious targets, but also targets on which we are delivering. For the first 15 hours, 97% of four-year-olds and 94% of three-year-olds are enrolled. The latest information from the early years foundation stage profile shows that more children than ever before are reaching a good level of development.

The non-economic eligibility criteria were mentioned, specifically as regards disabilities. I am pleased to say that in families where one parent is unable to work because they are disabled, three and four-year-olds will be eligible for 30 hours of childcare. We have also committed to including in the eligibility criteria for 30 hours parents who are unable to work because of caring responsibilities as well as lone parents and those on zero-hours contracts. To recognise these situations, there will be a grace period so that if parents lose their jobs, they do not automatically lose their entitlement to childcare.

My hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith) gave a very good speech, focusing on the need for sufficiency. I want to reassure her that, as she will have heard in the Chancellor’s statement, £50 million is being made available to increase the number of places in early years provision. Now that free schools can bid for funding to create nurseries, we project that 4,000 nursery places will be created through that programme. I understand and note her concerns about local authority top-slicing, which was mentioned a number of times in the debate, and we will be looking at that very closely as we implement the policy.

The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt), who is no longer in his place, spoke eloquently, as he often does, but misguidedly about quality in the early years sector. As I have said, 85% of providers are rated good or outstanding and the Government have not only raised the qualifications criteria for staff but are seeing quality increase as well.

My hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (James Berry) made a good case for the value of pre-schools and underscored why this policy, particularly the entitlement for two-year-olds that we have kept in the spending review, is so important. We know that early education can make a huge difference to outcomes at school, particularly for disadvantaged children.

The hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), with her usual bluster and conjecture, sought to criticise the policy at every turn but ended her speech by saying that she will support the Bill today. I hope that she will join the Committee, because I would very much like to go through the Bill line by line with her to ensure that we get it right for working parents, which is what I am sure she wants to do.

As the father of an 18-month-old in full day care who I drop off every day, I know what it is like for parents to be concerned about their children being cared for by high-quality professionals and I know what it is like to need flexibility and for it to be affordable, as I know many parents up and down the country do. This Bill and the spending settlement announced by the Chancellor today deliver precisely that: high-quality affordable childcare for parents.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Childcare Bill [Lords]: Programme

Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 83A(7)),

That the following provisions shall apply to the Childcare Bill [Lords]:

Committal

(1) The Bill shall be committed to a Public Bill Committee.

Proceedings in Public Bill Committee

(2) Proceedings in the Public Bill Committee shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion on Tuesday 15 December 2015.

(3) The Public Bill Committee shall have leave to sit twice on the first day on which it meets.

Proceedings on Consideration and up to and including Third Reading

(4) Proceedings on Consideration and proceedings in legislative grand committee shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour before the moment of interruption on the day on which proceedings on Consideration are commenced.

(5) Proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the moment of interruption on that day.

(6) Standing Order No. 83B (Programming committees) shall not apply to proceedings on Consideration and up to and including Third Reading.

Other proceedings

(7) Any other proceedings on the Bill (including any proceedings on consideration of any message from the Lords) may be programmed.—(Simon Kirby.)

Question agreed to.

Childcare Bill [Lords]: Money

Queen’s recommendation signified.

Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 52(1)(a)),

That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Childcare Bill [Lords], it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of:

(1) any expenditure incurred under or by virtue of the Act by the Secretary of State; and

(2) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable under any other Act out of money so provided.—(Simon Kirby.)

Question agreed to.