Free Childcare Entitlement Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Free Childcare Entitlement

Philip Hollobone Excerpts
Wednesday 6th September 2017

(7 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Robert Goodwill Portrait Mr Goodwill
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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.

Philip Hollobone Portrait Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
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I commend my hon. Friend for the way he is responding to this urgent question. For the thousands of working parents who are taking advantage of the 30 hours of free childcare, how much is it worth to them on average, per year, per child?

Robert Goodwill Portrait Mr Goodwill
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It is worth £5,000. That makes a big difference to a family budget.