Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Laura Farris Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Laura Farris (Newbury) (Con)]

Because of the restrictions on time, I will confine my comments to childcare. The main thing I want to say is thank you to the Chancellor for listening to the concerns that colleagues on both sides of the House have raised about affordability.

The shadow Energy Secretary, the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), said that we should judge this Budget according to three tests. I accept his challenge and will confine my remarks on childcare to the tests that he set.

The first test was whether the Budget shows a proper understanding of what is really going on in this country. Well, it was not the most headline-grabbing element, but the childcare announcement included half a billion pounds over the next two years to fund the free hours—more correctly, the subsidised hours—that apply currently to three and four-year-olds. I know from nurseries in my constituency, such as Ladybirds in Newbury and Hungerford Nursery School, that that provision has been under-subsidised and they have been under serious financial pressure. The amount that they are getting is equivalent to a 30% increase per hour. Most importantly, it is the sum that the sector requested from the Treasury. I think that shows that the Chancellor has the right priorities.

The Treasury has also understood that childcare costs, which have climbed by 20% in the past five years, are affecting women’s participation in the labour market. In my constituency, the cost of a two-year-old’s full-time place in a nursery is £15,000. Last year, the Centre for Progressive Policy reported that half of all mums are struggling to access suitable childcare. Of them, half again said that they were prevented from taking on more hours at work; a third said that they were prevented from taking on a new job, that it was completely out of the question or that they had had to reduce their hours; and one in seven said that the cost of childcare had forced them out of the labour market altogether. Let us be clear: women’s employment was being severely affected.

The second question that the shadow Energy Secretary asked was whether we are showing the right priorities. Let us be clear about what this is. It is tantamount to universal free childcare from the end of the protected statutory maternity period to the start of school, and then an extension of wraparound care. It has been called for, in one form or another, by the Fawcett Society, Pregnant Then Screwed, the think-tank Onward, the Women’s Budget Group—I could go on. They all seem to think it is the right priority. It helps the poorest by accelerating the payment of universal credit. It helps the mothers of older children with wraparound care. Most importantly, it puts women in a position in which they do not have to say no to that promotion, to that job or to increasing their hours because of childcare limitations. It is fundamental to ameliorating the stubborn inequalities that persist in relation to pay, promotion opportunities, pension saving and leadership in the workplace. I respectfully invite the Opposition to say why that is not the right priority.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Laura Farris]

I have not finished.

Finally, is the Budget a good way of meeting the long-term challenges? Obviously, it is good for growth and not just for meeting short-term labour market challenges, but it enables businesses to harness expertise with the labour market and gives them a greater chance to grow. The Women’s Budget Group has estimated that the lost working hours that women spend providing childcare have cost the economy £28 billion in lost economic output every year. I therefore respectfully suggest that the Budget meets the third test in addressing the long-term challenge.

I feel genuinely sorry for the Opposition. I feel sorry for the shadow education team, who spent so much time making noises about childcare, saying—as was pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Siobhan Baillie)—that what they were proposing would be like the rebirth of the NHS. I have dug around to see exactly what meat there is on those bones, but all I have been able to find is the introduction of a breakfast club. If that is the best the Opposition can do, I am genuinely sorry for them, and I congratulate the Government on making such an important announcement in this year’s Budget.