Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Munira Wilson and Kevin Hollinrake

Thursday 7th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Kevin Hollinrake)]

Some 130,000 children are in the care of close family members in England alone. We recognise the vital role that kinship carers play in looking after children who cannot live with their parents. Last year, the Government published the national kinship care strategy and announced a £20 million package of support for kinship carers in 2024-25.

[Munira Wilson]

The Minister just referenced the Government’s kinship strategy, which was published in December. Their own strategy has recognised that kinship carers in employment often report the need to give up work or reduce their hours to be able to care for the children they support; it cites a survey revealing that 45% of kinship carers give up work and a similar number have to reduce their hours permanently. Given the Minister’s desire to drive up employment and the fact that kinship carers stepping up overnight to look after children saves the taxpayer a huge amount of money in comparison with when children go into local authority care, why are the Government not making paid employment leave a statutory right and only publishing guidance?

[Kevin Hollinrake]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point. We call on local authorities to be considerate to people who are in employment when they take on a child to look after in a kinship care situation. We think that employers are the right people to make sure that any provision we provide is a floor, not a ceiling. Companies such as John Lewis take a very considerate approach to people in that situation. We urge them to do so, but we also encourage local authorities, which have budgets allocated to this particular issue, to provide support where they can.

--- Later in debate ---

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

T8. Quarter 4 of 2023 was the 10th quarter in a row in which more British businesses closed their doors than opened up. Just yesterday, a small business owner in Twickenham contacted me to tell me that his business was on the brink. If the Secretary of State will not consider business rate reform, as my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) suggested, what is she doing to help our small and medium-sized businesses, and to stem the tide of insolvencies?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Kevin Hollinrake)]

The hon. Lady raises an important point. We do not shy away from the fact that things have been difficult for businesses, with the covid crisis, of course, followed by the cost of doing business crisis. That is why we stepped in to support businesses, with a £4.3 billion package for rates last autumn, which has helped many businesses to get through a difficult time. Unfortunately, that support has not been passed on in Scotland and Wales, but it certainly has in England. I am very happy to meet with her to discuss her particular business problem.