| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Child Care
13. Mrs. Sylvia Heal (Halesowen and Rowley Regis): What plans he has to assist those parents wishing to work with the costs of child care. [63200]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security (Angela Eagle): Parents need access to affordable, good-quality child care to help balance work and family life successfully. We have already increased the help available for child care costs through in-work benefits, and the Government have introduced the Working Families Tax Credit Bill, which will provide for a much more generous child care tax credit.
Mrs. Heal: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Is she aware, however, of the particular difficulty of lone parents in finding affordable good-quality child care? In the Rowley Regis ward of my constituency, one in seven families with children are lone-parent families who have
to pay, on average, £15 a day for private full-day child care. Will she tell me what help the Government will give to lone parents in my constituency to solve that problem?
Angela Eagle: The help takes a variety of guises, the first of which, as I said earlier, is a new national child care strategy. That strategy will create many more child care places across the country, to ensure that affordable high-quality child care is available to all who need it. Secondly, the new child care tax credit, which is part of the working families tax credit, will replace the old Tory disregard--which was used by only 5 per cent. of people--and provide tax credits of up to 70 per cent. of child care costs. Therefore, not only will we make child care available across the United Kingdom to those who need it, but we will make it affordable.
Miss Julie Kirkbride (Bromsgrove): The Minister might remember that, at the end of 1998, the Government produced a White Paper on the family which brazenly declared that, on balance, it was better that children were brought up in two-parent families than in any other form of family. Why then do the Government seek to discriminate against two-parent families in which the mother chooses to stay at home to look after the children? Under the Government's proposals, those families will
receive absolutely no help or money from the state, whereas all the other alternative forms of family will receive help with child care.
Angela Eagle: The idea is to make work pay and to give extra help to those who are low paid, so that they can go out to work and support their family, and so that they are more better off than they could ever be on benefit. All our policies are focused on that very clear aim.
Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford, South): It is clear that this Government are doing more on child care than the previous Government, who did nothing to address the problem. Will my hon. Friend consider the need to reassure single parents, especially mothers, who worry about what will happen when their children are ill? It is all very well having child care places, but the problems caused by a child's illness can act as a disincentive to going out to work.
Angela Eagle: Our fairness at work legislation will incorporate the European directives on family policy, which will introduce parental leave and family leave to allow for such eventualities. The Government are committed to more family friendly employment policies and, increasingly, employers are realising that it is better to allow their labour force to balance work and family more appropriately than the Conservatives' policies allowed.
Yemen
3.31 pm
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Robin Cook): Madam Speaker, with permission I should like to make a statement on recent events in Yemen. There have been three separate developments affecting British nationals in Yemen since the House last sat. On Saturday, and again this afternoon, I have discussed those events by phone with the Prime Minister of Yemen, Dr. Iryani.
The most recent event was the kidnapping on Saturday of Mr. John Brooke from the compound of the oil company for which he worked, in the Marib area of northern Yemen. Our ambassador was in contact immediately with the Yemeni Prime Minister and Interior Minister to insist on full consultation with us on any steps being taken by the authorities to secure Mr. Brooke's release. This afternoon I have expressed to Dr. Iryani our strong view that the release of Mr. Brooke should be achieved through mediation, and the Prime Minister of Yemen gave me an assurance that no force would be used without consultation with us.
We currently have in Yemen a team of police officers who are preparing an account of the previous kidnapping. Two of those officers are experienced in hostage negotiation. We have made their skills available to the Yemeni authorities.
We have also been in contact over the weekend with the Government of Yemen about the five British nationals who have been detained there. We understand that the five men were detained on 24 December. Our embassy in Yemen first heard of the arrest of unnamed British nationals on 29 December and immediately demanded access to them, including through a succession of meetings between our ambassador and Yemeni Ministers. However, access was not granted until last Friday, when our consul-general immediately visited the prison in Aden but was given access to only three of the five men.
On Saturday, I stressed to the Prime Minister of Yemen the vital importance to us of obtaining access to all five men under detention in order to reassure ourselves and their relatives that they are well and being properly treated. Dr. Iryani undertook to make immediate inquiries and on Saturday our consul-general was permitted access to one of the other two men. Access to the fifth man is still being denied on the ground that he has Yemeni-British dual nationality. However, this afternoon Dr. Iryani assured me that access to the fifth detainee will be granted today or tomorrow.
On Saturday, I stressed to the Prime Minister that if the five men are to be charged, those charges must be brought soon. They and their relatives are entitled to know why they have been arrested, and the five men cannot defend themselves against allegations until they are charged. If they are not to be charged, they must be released. This afternoon, I sought and obtained fresh assurances from the Prime Minister of Yemen that all five men will have access to legal advice, that any charges will be subject to due process of law in open court, and that consular staff will have the right to attend.
I now turn to the tragic events arising from the seizure of 16 tourists in southern Yemen. Twelve British nationals, two Australians and two Americans were
kidnapped by an armed group on 28 December. According to the Yemeni authorities, the kidnappers' key demand was the release of a number of Yemenis and foreigners arrested by the Yemeni authorities. As soon as we learned of the kidnapping, the British ambassador spoke to the Yemeni Interior Minister, Hussain Arab. He made clear our paramount concern for the hostages' safety. He pressed on the Yemeni authorities our strong wish that no precipitate action be taken which could endanger the hostages' lives.
The next day Yemeni security forces encircled the kidnappers and their hostages. There was a firefight, in which four of the hostages were killed. Three were British. I am sure that the whole House will join me in extending our deep sympathy to the families who grieve for those who were killed. The testimony of the survivors confirms more forcefully than any hon. Member can that all the hostages conducted themselves with the greatest courage and concern for each other.
There is still much confusion about how the firefight started and about whether hostages had been killed before the security forces intervened. At the request of the Foreign Office, a team of British police officers went to Yemen on 1 January. In close co-ordination with the visiting Federal Bureau of Investigation team, they are preparing a full account of what happened.
On Saturday, I expressed to the Prime Minister of Yemen the importance of full co-operation between our Governments in the investigation. We agreed that the best way for us to maintain sound bilateral relations was to work closely together in establishing the truth and in bringing the full truth into the open. It would be wrong to prejudge the police investigation or to anticipate what it may conclude about the handling of the rescue attempt by the Yemeni authorities. Let us be clear, however, that the primary responsibility for what happened rests with the armed gang who seized the hostages in the first place. Those responsible for seizing the hostages, and for the death of four of them, must be pursued and brought to justice.
I pay tribute to the British ambassador, Vic Henderson, to Consul-General David Pearce and to their small team. They have responded with professionalism and with total commitment to a succession of demanding events.
Two areas of public policy require to be reviewed in the light of recent events. The first relates to the travel advice issued by the Foreign Office. Our travel advice in relation to Yemen has for some time warned of the risk of kidnapping. Following the recent tragic deaths, our travel advice has been strengthened to advise
Our system of travel advice is widely held up as a model of good practice by other countries. It already tends to the side of caution, although it is necessary that it should not veer to over-reaction if it is to retain credibility among the public. We are constantly looking for ways of improving distribution of that advice. We need to be sure that it is seen by anyone thinking of travelling to dangerous parts of the world.
I am therefore inviting tour operators and other members of the travel industry to the Foreign Office to discuss how we can further improve the distribution of our travel advice. We hope to develop with them a voluntary agreement on advice to clients booking holidays to countries where there is a risk. We would wish such an agreement to include a commitment to notify our consular division when tours are being organised to dangerous countries.
The second area of public policy that we must review in the light of recent experience is how we can improve our support to other countries in handling the seizure of hostages. I can announce that the Foreign Office will appoint a police expert with experience in hostage negotiations as a consultant to the Foreign Office on counter-terrorism work. Our intention is that he or she will travel abroad to discuss the training needs of foreign Governments, and to offer advice on their handling of hostage-taking.
"against all non-essential travel to Yemen".
Following the recent kidnapping of Mr. Brooke, our ambassador has today met representatives of the British community to impress on them the need for heightened vigilance, and to discuss with them the implications for their safety of recent events. All British nationals are being encouraged to re-register urgently with the embassy.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |