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Government’s Childcare Expansion
17 October 2024
Lead MP
Stephen Morgan
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
TaxationEmployment
Other Contributors: 20
At a Glance
Stephen Morgan raised concerns about government’s childcare expansion in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
The Secretary of State has promised a new era of child-centred government. The Government will deliver 3,000 new or expanded school-based nurseries, with primary schools applying for up to £150,000 from a £15 million capital funding pot to accommodate these changes. New nurseries are set to open across England by September 2025. Funding is available for projects that are either school-run or delivered on the site by private and voluntary providers or childminders. The Government will address top-up fees, mandatory charges for nappies, lunch, or additional hours, should not be a condition for accessing funded places. Over 320,000 children now access new entitlements of childcare from September, with plans to increase the funded childcare entitlement to 30 hours per week by 2025. The Government will implement reforms based on tragic events and feedback to strengthen safeguarding requirements in the statutory early years foundation stage framework, including safer recruitment, child absences, and paediatric first aid training. New flexibilities for childminders are introduced from November 1st. A national wraparound childcare programme has allocated over £130 million to deliver new places for primary school age children. Free breakfast clubs will be available in up to 750 early adopter schools by April 2025, expanding nationally thereafter.
Gagan Mohindra
Con
South West Hertfordshire
Question
Will the Minister provide details on unspent budget for awareness campaigns and confirm if there is a plan to increase publicising of childcare roll-outs?
Gagan Mohindra
Con
South West Hertfordshire
Question
How many childcare places will the first 300 new or expanded nurseries provide, and what is the timeline for delivering the remaining 100,000 places?
Gagan Mohindra
Con
South West Hertfordshire
Question
Will the Minister confirm that children in classes where one child is five years old will be affected by the government's education tax, despite this being a broken promise?
Gagan Mohindra
Con
South West Hertfordshire
Question
The MP praised Labour's past childcare policies but criticised their current lack of awareness among parents and failure to deliver promised commitments. He questioned the unspent budget for publicising the new entitlements and inquired about specific timelines for delivering additional nurseries.
Minister reply
The Minister thanked the shadow Minister and acknowledged inherited challenges such as workforce and places. He stated that over 300,000 children have benefited from the entitlement offer since September this year, and outlined the pilot phase for school-based nurseries with 300 places from April, aiming for 3,000 by the end of the Parliament.
Stella Creasy
Lab Co-op
Walthamstow
Question
The MP thanked the Minister for addressing childcare workforce needs and asked about his workforce strategy to recruit an extra 35,000 people by autumn next year.
Minister reply
The Minister thanked Stella Creasy and highlighted the Do Something Big recruitment campaign. He stated that school-based nurseries have lower turnover and flexible staffing options between reception and early years in primary schools.
Ian Sollom
Lib Dem
St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire
Question
The MP welcomed the Government’s promise to expand access to affordable childcare but criticised past Conservative policies for exacerbating childcare issues. He asked about a career strategy for those working in early years, including training programmes.
Minister reply
The Minister acknowledged the need for better recruitment and retention strategies and highlighted new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession.
Southend West and Leigh
Question
The MP welcomed the announcement on expanding childcare entitlements and asked for assurances that childminders will remain a key focus, with ideas on how they will be supported.
Minister reply
The Minister assured that childminders are a key part of the childcare market providing flexibility to parents. From next month, new flexibilities will enable childminders to work from non-domestic premises and increase collaboration among them.
Edward Leigh
Con
Gainsborough
Question
There are countless millions of free childminders available. The love between a grandparent and a grandchild is the purest love: love without responsibility. I declare a personal interest. Will the Minister assure me that he will incentivise grandparents to look after their grandchildren, and that nothing in the tax or benefits system will discriminate against mothers who want to look after their children full time? Will he build on the Conservatives’ scheme of transferrable allowances?
Minister reply
Families have an important role to play in supporting children in the first few years of their life. We are committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity for every child, in every part of the country, and our childcare system has a key role to play in that.
Shaun Davies
Lab
Telford
Question
As a former school governor and a dad, I see the amazing work that preschools and nurseries do up and down the country. These measures will be a key way to break down barriers to opportunity and get the country growing, as the Minister says. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that children in care and the children of those in the armed forces are prioritised for the additional care places? Will he reassure childminders that we are on their side, because childminders in Telford have missed the memo from the Government on this set of improvements?
Minister reply
Since joining the House, my hon. Friend has already become a champion for children and young people in his constituency. He raises a number of points—about childminders, support for children in care, and military families. As I represent the heart and home of the Royal Navy, I take those matters very seriously. I will certainly consider the points that he raises as we design a system fit for the future.
Greg Smith
Con
Mid Buckinghamshire
Question
I am incredibly proud of the previous Government’s massive expansion of the childcare offer, and I am genuinely pleased that the new Government are carrying on with it. When it comes to the expansion of in-school nurseries, what mechanism will be put in place to ensure that rural communities, like mine in Mid Buckinghamshire, get a locked in, fair share of those new facilities?
Minister reply
Our party wants to govern the whole country. In the election in July, we won many rural seats, and we will take the views and ambitions of rural communities seriously. If the hon. Gentleman wants to raise particular points with me to ensure that the roll-out works well in his constituency, I am very happy to meet him to discuss those issues.
Hitchin
Question
With so many families struggling to find affordable childcare across my Hitchin constituency, I really welcome the Minister’s announcement today, and I will encourage local schools to take part in the pilot scheme. I particularly welcome the focus on the exclusionary nature of top-up fees. Those fees run counter to the nature of the scheme, and all too often leave those most in need of affordable childcare unable to access it. Will the Minister assure us that as he takes the vital, robust action needed to clamp down on top-up fees, he will work with the sector more widely to ensure the viability of providers, who were all too often left on the brink by the previous Government’s mismanagement of childcare?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I have heard that message loud and clear from parents in constituencies up and down the country. Where providers seek to put up fresh barriers to access, we will not tolerate them. We will make guidance in this area as clear and consistent as possible to support hard-pressed families as we deliver this sea change in early years provision.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
I thank the Minister for this welcome news. Within seven months, my party colleagues in Northern Ireland have designed a scheme to slash childcare bills by 15%, saving parents up to £660 per month. The Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme has saved parents about £1 million in the month of September alone. Some 13,000 children signed up in the first four weeks. That is DUP delivery. Does the Minister have any plans for implementing greater support on a UK-wide basis, so that better communication and better partnership can blossom and grow?
Minister reply
I always enjoy responding to questions from the hon. Gentleman. On my visit in April to Belfast, I heard that childcare is a huge issue for the community. I assure him that there is more we can do to support our colleagues in Northern Ireland. We have already committed to a meeting with the relevant Minister to discuss these issues.
Darren Paffey
Lab
Southampton Itchen
Question
I thank the Minister for his statement and welcome these measures, which will do an awful lot to help hard-pressed families in my constituency. Does he agree that the Conservatives suffer from something of a blind spot in looking back at their record, which contains years in which funding fell short of the delivery costs? They ignore the exodus of early years professionals and the fact that 1,400 Sure Start centres have been closed, yet they continue to believe that we have never had it so good. Will the Minister join me in thanking early years professionals in Southampton Itchen, who can finally count on a Government who are child-centred, and could he outline how these measures will be targeted at so-called childcare deserts?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for his question and congratulate him on being selected for the Select Committee. I agree that we should be shocked by the Conservatives’ response to today’s statement. This Government are focused on the issues that make the biggest difference to working people across the country, so that we can deliver the change we need. Today’s announcement is an example of how we will go about doing that. I am very keen to meet my hon. Friend to discuss these issues further, and I appreciate his thanks to those in the sector for the hard work that they do in his constituency.
Oliver Ryan
Ind
Burnley
Question
I hugely welcome the news about funding for schools, children and parents, and for school-based nurseries in particular. I hope the Minister will look fondly on applications from Burnley, Padiham and Brierfield in due course. I wonder whether he thinks that the capital allocation in the statement is sufficient for his ambition. Does the Minister agree that this Government are delivering on their promises within their first 100 days?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I am absolutely delighted to hear of his enthusiasm for the scheme, which will make a huge difference to communities up and down our country. We are starting a test-and-learn phase in April; the roll-out will be in September.[Official Report, 22 October 2024; Vol. 755, c. 2WC.] (Correction) We want to learn from that approach, and I would be delighted to work with him on this matter.
Penrith and Solway
Question
I strongly welcome the proposed expansion of childcare, which I am sure will help many families in my Penrith and Solway constituency. Can the Minister outline how this measure will be targeted at the areas of the country with the greatest need, and at areas that are considered to be childcare deserts?
Minister reply
We are absolutely committed to being a child-centred Government, and it is vital that we deliver the programme in the areas in most need. That means making sure that we understand where there are gaps in places and in the workforce, and we look forward to working closely with the sector to ensure that the scheme makes the biggest difference in communities that need it the most.
Luke Charters
Lab
York Outer
Question
This announcement is particularly fitting, as my son started preschool today. Many hard-working parents in York Outer welcome today’s news, but many feel that some providers are taking the biscuit when it comes to funded hours, abnormalities, unfair top-up fees and even restrictions on the days of the week on which funded hours can be used. Will the Minister meet me so that I can pass on York Outer parents’ concerns about the funded hours scheme?
Minister reply
I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend, and I wish his son good luck as he starts nursery today.
Adam Jogee
Lab
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Question
I have sore calves after this morning, Madam Deputy Speaker. A child-centred Government are exactly what people in Newcastle-under-Lyme want, but the disgraceful state of special educational needs and disability provision in our schools means that we have more to do. How does this announcement, which I welcome, sit alongside our commitment to overhauling the SEND system?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. We are reviewing the early years SEND funding arrangements to ensure that they are suitable for supporting the needs of children with SEND. For children with more complex needs and an education, health and care plan, funding is available via the high needs block of the dedicated schools grant. Local authorities should have SEND inclusion funding for children with low and emerging needs. Disability access funding is also designed to support disabled children’s access to entitlements.
Andrew Cooper
Lab
Mid Cheshire
Question
We can probably all agree that every child should have the opportunity to reach their full potential, regardless of their background and circumstances, who they know and where they come from. None of that should shape people’s lives more than their talent, creativity or determination. I welcome the emphasis on the importance of early years provision. Particularly in these years after the pandemic, measures such as early speech and language interventions can make all the difference. Does the Minister agree that now is the time to take early years provision seriously?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for his question; he is absolutely right. The pandemic had a huge impact on children’s lives, and our investment in early interventions around speech and language is absolutely key. I look forward to working with him to deliver that successfully in his constituency.
Josh Simons
Lab
Makerfield
Question
We’ll see! I am intrigued to hear Conservative Members’ attempts to defend their record. Moments ago, the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) said that the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch) is “preoccupied with her children” and cannot be the Leader of the Opposition while spending time with her family. This comes after she herself said that maternity leave has “gone too far”. Does the Minister agree that whereas this Government are working hard to back the hope that children represent, Conservative Members are, in the end, the same old Tories?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Early years provision was cast off under the Tories, and we are bringing it back into the fold as a crucial part of our education system. We are committed to giving every young person the best start in life, and I look forward to working with him to make that happen.
Shadow Comment
Gagan Mohindra
Shadow Comment
The Opposition acknowledges the Government's initiatives but highlights the strong record of the former government in extending childcare entitlements since 2010. The Conservative Party extended the three and four-year-old entitlement, introduced free early education for disadvantaged two-year-olds, doubled the three and four-year-old entitlement to 30 hours a week, and announced the biggest expansion of childcare by a UK Government in history. The Opposition welcomes the expansion but questions the unspent budget for awareness campaigns and seeks clarity on the number of childcare places provided by the first 300 new or expanded nurseries, as well as the timeline for delivering the remaining ones. They also raise concerns about the government's education tax affecting children nearing five years old.
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