Oral Answers to Questions

Sam Gyimah Excerpts

Monday 25th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

5. What progress the Government have made on implementing their policy to provide 30 hours of free childcare for working parents.

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

We are making rapid and substantial progress towards our manifesto commitment to provide 30 hours of free childcare for working families. The Chancellor has committed to an increase in funding for free places of more than £1 billion a year by 2020. The Report stage and Third Reading of the Childcare Bill will take place this afternoon, and early implementation is on track for this autumn, with full roll-out in 2017.

[Mr Jayawardena]

In rural areas, nurseries are often smaller which can result in higher costs per pupil. Can the Minister assure me that those nurseries will not be adversely affected, and will he visit my constituency to see some of those nurseries at first hand?

[Mr Gyimah]

May I reassure my hon. Friend that our review of childcare costs, in consultation with the sector, took into account the cost of childcare for every type of provider right across the country? We have announced an increase in the average national funding rate from £4.56 an hour to £4.88 for three and four-year-olds from 2017-18 and will be consulting to ensure that that reaches the frontline. In response to my hon. Friend’s request, I would be delighted to visit nurseries in Hampshire, which, I know, are at the forefront of innovation in the sector.

[Graham Evans]

Next month, I will be holding my fifth annual jobs and apprenticeships fair at the outstanding Mid Cheshire College. Does my hon. Friend welcome the extension of this Government’s commitment to 30 hours of free childcare to help parents get back to work?

[Mr Gyimah]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the Weaver Vale jobs fair. He is absolutely right that the purpose of the 30-hour commitment is to help make work pay, help with the cost of living and give children the best start in life. May I suggest that he invites local childcare providers to his jobs fair so that parents can talk to them as well as to potential employers, and I encourage all colleagues to do the same?

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that a parent’s childcare needs do not end when a child reaches four, and that after school and school holiday childcare is absolutely essential, particularly for working parents? Does he therefore share my disappointment that Westminster City Council is ending all funding for its school-age childcare service, or play service, as part of a £665,000 cut to their children’s services budget?

[Mr Gyimah]

The hon. Lady asks a very important question about childcare for school-age children. I cannot comment on the specific case of Westminster City Council, but I do know that tax-free childcare, which we have legislated for and which comes into force from 2017, will allow parents to purchase childcare out of school for children from nought to 12, and for disabled children up to the age of 18.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

Will the Minister say what support schools will be given to accommodate the extra intake?

[Mr Gyimah]

That is an excellent question. There are many excellent school nurseries available. She may be aware that, as part of our last spending review, we announced £50 million of capital funding, and that we will be working with schools that need to expand to be able to deliver the cost of childcare.

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

The Government’s plans for introducing 30 hours of free childcare for working parents have rightly received cross-party support, but, as we have already heard, there is still some way to go with regard to parents seeking employment. What work will the Minister do with parents who are currently seeking employment to enable them to access the childcare?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady appears to have phoned not one friend, but two. We are deeply grateful to her and to those hon. Members.

[Mr Gyimah]

It is encouraging to see that the Scottish National party has followed the Conservative party’s lead and is now pledging 30 hours of childcare in the upcoming Scottish elections. The hon. Lady will be aware that we have the childcare element of tax credits in England, so that parents who do not qualify for the second 15 hours can get support for up to 75% of their childcare costs through that policy.

[Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab)]

On 14 April last year, the Prime Minister boasted—I cannot do a David Cameron impression—that with a Conservative Government

“you will get 30 hours of free childcare a week”.

As I recall, there was much rejoicing throughout the land. However, can the Minister now confirm that one in three of the families who he said would get the 30 hours of free childcare—and they believed it because the Prime Minister told them that they would—will receive no additional hours at all?

[Mr Gyimah]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her post. I look forward to her future contributions as vice-chair of Progress, especially as I now understand that to be a front for hard-right views in the Labour party. She will know that for the first 15 hours, the offer is universal— 99% of four-year-olds and 94% of three-year-olds get it. We have been very clear that the second 15 hours is a work incentive. Surely she does not believe that Islington parents on £100,000 a year should be entitled to free childcare. I know that she wants to represent the new core constituency of the Labour party.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

3. What discussions she has had with education providers on reviews of post-16 education and training.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

7. What steps she is taking to implement the recommendations of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s report, “State of the Nation 2015: Social Mobility and Child Poverty in Great Britain”, published in December 2015.

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

The Prime Minister made it clear in his first major policy intervention this year that improving life chances is a key priority for this Government. We will, in due course, publish a strategy setting out all the ways in which we will be fighting disadvantage and spreading opportunity. The strategy will focus on the root causes and human dimensions of child poverty. We will work with the reformed Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, which will play an important role in this.

[Tom Brake]

I am sure that the strategy that the Minister mentions will recognise that early intervention is key to improving social mobility. Has he looked at the impact of the removal of the ring-fencing of the early intervention grant, which has led to a 40% drop in the money available for early intervention? What will the impact of that be on social mobility?

[Mr Gyimah]

The right hon. Gentleman will know that Conservative Members take social mobility very seriously, and we have an excellent record on it; we even allowed the Liberal Democrats into government once. On the early intervention grant, we have increased the amount of money for troubled families and are deploying it in a very targeted way to help the families who need it most.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

9. What plans the Government have to meet demand for school places in Thirsk and Malton.

--- Later in debate ---

[Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)]

11. What assessment she has made of the affordability of childcare.

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

This Government understand that for many parents childcare is the main issue. That is why we will be helping parents with the cost of childcare to the tune of £6 billion a year from 2019 onwards.

[Marie Rimmer]

Childcare and early education are vital to help children to get the best start in life, particularly in the most disadvantaged families, yet this policy does nothing to help the most disadvantaged children, and the Minister’s decision to change eligibility means that those who may benefit most will miss out on the extra 15 hours. What plan does he have to raise its quality in the early years, particularly to address the issue of disadvantaged children who will not benefit?

[Mr Gyimah]

Disadvantaged children are at the heart of our childcare policy. This Government introduced 15 hours of childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds, and all three and four-year-olds get the first 15 hours free. As for the second 15 hours, which is a work incentive, it is logical to say that before someone gets 16 hours of childcare, given that they get 15 free, they work one additional hour. That makes total sense.

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

14. What progress the Government are making in giving summer-born and premature children the choice to defer starting school.

--- Later in debate ---

[Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con)]

21. What progress the Careers and Enterprise Company has made on improving the provision of careers education and inspiring young people about the world of work.

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

The Careers and Enterprise Company has made significant progress since its incorporation last February. It has set up a national network of enterprise advisers to improve the employer-school link, it has launched a £5-million fund to help in areas where careers provision is particularly poor, and it is developing an enterprise passport for all young children in school.

[Karen Lumley]

More than 3,000 apprenticeships have been created in Redditch since 2010. What will the new company do to ensure that there are another 3,000 by 2020?

[Mr Gyimah]

First, I congratulate Redditch on its excellent work to create apprenticeships. That is at the heart of the work this Government are doing. Pupils should be given every opportunity to fulfil their potential. As my hon. Friend knows, the Government will create 3 million apprenticeships. The Careers and Enterprise Company will help young people find the right route to continue their development.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

The CBI said in its “Future possible” report 18 months ago that

“the transfer of responsibility for careers guidance to schools has been a failure.”

Will the Minister recognise that the CBI is correct?

[Mr Gyimah]

There are a number of ways to develop comprehensive careers advice and guidance. The Careers and Enterprise Company, in which we invested £20 million, is one part of that. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has said, in the spring we will publish a comprehensive strategy for how schools can work with the company and the plethora of other organisations out there to deliver the right level of careers education, starting from primary level right through to the end of school.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.