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After-school Child Care
7. Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes): What progress has been made on introducing after-school child care places. [68878]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Ms Margaret Hodge): The national child care strategy is already having a positive impact locally. We have funded the creation of nearly 30,000 new out-of-school child care places and through the commitment of a wide range of partners we are on target to create 60,000 new places in England by April 1999.
Shona McIsaac: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. It is good that everything is going so well. What is her view on an initiative by Grimsby college, my local further education college? It is called the weekend college and integrates education, training and child care so that while parents use weekends to retrain and acquire new skills, older children can participate in activities at the college and the little ones have a free child care place. Does my hon. Friend approve of that model of integration and would she like it to be used as an example elsewhere in the country?
Ms Hodge: Indeed, I applaud the initiative that has been taken by Grimsby college and join my hon. Friend in congratulating the college on that innovative development. The further education sector can make an important contribution to early education and child care and the integration of the two. That is why we have allocated £5 million this year and a further £5 million next year to create 20,000 places. The further education sector provides high-quality places for children and opportunities for adults to gain new skills and qualifications.
Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West): We have already been regaled with plans to get children as young as three out of their homes and into school and now we
are being asked to consider keeping them in after school. Does not the Minister consider it any part of her job to encourage children to spend some time at home with a responsible parent?
Ms Hodge: We all know that parents are the prime educators and nurturers of their children. However, there have been enormous changes in working practices. More than 50 per cent. of mothers with children under five work. The Government need to provide a framework that enables flexibility and choice for parents to ensure that children get the best start in life and that parents do not have to choose between the jobs that they need and the children whom they love.
Mr. Syd Rapson (Portsmouth, North): The working families tax credit, especially the child care element, is most welcome, but according to the Kids Clubs Network there is a great deal of ignorance about what is available. It would be a shame to lose the impetus before October. Will there be a promotional campaign to make sure that everyone knows about it? There should also be more providers, particularly in areas of need.
Ms Hodge: The working families tax credit is an important part of our strategy to expand child care and ensure that all families can afford it. We will indeed launch a promotional campaign, and I warmly welcome the introduction of the child care tax credit, not only because it will make child care affordable to more parents, but because it will enable us to improve the quality of much of that care and increase the quantity, so that we provide genuine flexibility and choice for all families.
Mr. Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath): We welcome the fact that more after-school care will be made available, but before the Minister preens herself too obviously about the number of places created, as she did in reply to the hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), she should ask her civil servants to examine closely how much taxpayers' money has been provided and determine whether places have actually been created or whether best endeavours have merely been used to try to create them. The civil servants may tell her that, in a year or two, the National Audit Office may have to investigate that.
Ms Hodge: I have written to the hon. Gentleman and to all right hon. and hon. Members about the places that have already been created under our national child care strategy in their locality. We know that, within the first two years of this Government, we will have doubled the number of child care places available. In two years, we will have created twice as many places as the previous Government did in 18 years. That is only the start of an ambitious and successful programme to provide flexible and affordable high-quality child care.
New Deal
8. Ms Dari Taylor (Stockton, South): If he will make a statement on the development of the single work-focused gateway. [68879]
The Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities (Mr. Andrew Smith): We are on course for pilots of this important innovation to start
in four Benefits Agency areas in June, and in another eight in November. I am visiting each of the early pilot areas, meeting staff, councils, claimants' representatives and advisory bodies, as well as arranging briefing here for hon. Members whose constituencies are affected. We are determined that the gateway will provide a better standard of service and support to claimants than they have ever received before, as well as striking a good balance between rights and responsibilities.
Ms Taylor: Will my right hon. Friend join me in saying a big thank you to the northern region Employment Service? Paul Robson's staff have worked hard and creatively to achieve good job opportunities for hundreds of people. The northern region is very disappointed not to be part of the pilot schemes, as the staff were keen to be involved.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the gateway offers us the chance to put welfare reform and good employment opportunities together in an excellent manner, developing most persuasively the personal adviser approach?
Mr. Smith:
I am pleased to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the Employment Service and all the other partners who are making such a success of the new deal and the other initiatives that we have launched for job generation. I agree that the role of the work-focused gateway, by extending the continuity of support and advice from personal advisers, which has been such a successful feature of the new deal, will indeed help claimants towards work where appropriate, and towards greater independence and personal development. It will stop claimants being shunted from pillar to post as they all too often have been in the past, as well as striking the right balance between rights and responsibilities. The single gateway will provide a whole new standard of service for claimants as well as shaping the future of the welfare state.
Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold):
I am sure that the Minister will be aware that the National Audit Office can provide robust evidence that fraud and mispaid benefits in the social security system amount to a staggering £4 billion. How will the single work-focused gateway reduce that figure?
Mr. Smith:
In two ways: first, we will provide a genuinely joined-up service, integrating that which is separately provided at the moment through the Benefits Agency, jobcentres and local authorities. Secondly, by requiring people to attend a work-focused interview as a condition of receiving benefit, we will have the opportunity to cut fraud and to make people aware of their responsibilities, as well as the extra help that we are providing.
Helen Jones (Warrington, North):
Does my right hon. Friend agree that if the single gateway is to work as we would wish, much will depend on the personal advisers? Can he assure the House that sufficient training will be offered to those advisers to enable them to do their job effectively with the vast numbers of people with whom they will have to deal? Will that include training in disability issues and in recognising mental health problems, so that they can adequately support their clients?
Mr. Smith:
My hon. Friend identifies an enormously important issue. There will be a comprehensive training
Mr. Paul Keetch (Hereford):
Does the Secretary of State realise that he will receive support from the Liberal Democrats for the gateway, provided that it offers clients advice on child care and other benefits, and provided that clients are visited at home for the interview if they cannot get into the gateway? Is he aware of the practical difficulties? The gateways will have staff from the Employment Service, local authorities, other agencies and private providers--all with different pay and conditions and different computers. How will he ensure that they will be able to talk to each other to ensure that the Government's good intentions provide good results?
Mr. Smith:
By doing the job properly--and considerably better than I imagine the Liberal Democrats would, judging by the hon. Gentleman's convoluted question. I assure him that the provisos that he puts on his support will be satisfied. Therefore, we will have support from the Liberal Democrats for the initiative.
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