Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sam Gyimah and Oliver Colvile

Monday 7th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

16. What progress the Government have made on implementing provision of 30 hours of free childcare for working parents.

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

We are delivering on our commitment to provide working parents of three and four-year-olds with 30 hours of free childcare. To ensure providers can deliver high quality childcare, we will increase funding for childcare by more than £1 billion by 2019. The Childcare Bill has cleared its parliamentary stages. Twenty five local authorities will be piloting the programme in the summer, ahead of full delivery in the summer of 2017.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gyimah]

I should like to reassure my hon. Friend that later this year we will be consulting on an early years national funding formula. As part of that, we will set a firm expectation on local authority top-slicing to ensure that the record investment being made in childcare is allocated fairly and reaches providers on the frontline. I am particularly impressed by the innovation in childcare brought about by the local authority in York, which is why we chose it as one of our early implementers. I would be delighted to visit again.

[Oliver Colvile]

Has my hon. Friend made an assessment of the number of nursery places in Plymouth, and of whether there is enough provision and capacity?

[Mr Gyimah]

My hon. Friend asks a very important question. The key point is that doubling the entitlement of free childcare is not the same as doubling the demand for childcare. Many parents already buy more than 15 hours and there is spare capacity in the system. The £6 billion funding going into childcare each year should incentivise more providers to enter the market. Where there are specific local difficulties, £50 million has been made available through the spending review to tackle capacity constraints.

Electoral Registration

Debate between Sam Gyimah and Oliver Colvile

Wednesday 4th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

Let me give the facts on the electoral register. The Electoral Commission’s research shows that, in 2000, 3 million people were missing from the register. In 2011, that figure had risen to an estimated 7.5 million. This is against a backdrop of an increasing population. Since 2011, the drop in registration figures has stabilised. For the 13 years Labour was in power, the state of the register deteriorated, and very little was done about it.

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend explain why when in power Labour made sure the military had individual registration but now seems less keen on the idea for other people?

[Mr Gyimah]

My hon. Friend rightly points to the principle I laid out at the beginning of my speech: we have to treat all voters equally when it comes to the electoral register.

We all know that under the old system the register was inflated. Tenants and students moved on, but the register did not. People were registered at multiple addresses without their knowledge.