Clause 1 - General functions of local authority: England
Childcare Bill
11:45 am
Beverley Hughes (Minister of State (Children, Young People and Families), Department for Education and Skills; Stretford and Urmston, Labour)
Certainly. I gave some examples; I did not intend the list to be exhaustive. We all know that stability is an important factor in enabling children to make the most of the opportunities available to them.
The debate exposed a fundamental difference between what the Government and Labour Members intend in terms of policy outcomes and what Opposition Members would be satisfied with. That is interesting because the Bill has been written in the way that it has to try to address a point that the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham raised at the outset and that was also mentioned by the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole. They are interested in how the measures will work in practice and in getting to some of the detail about how we see our outcomes being delivered.
That is why the clause has been written as it has and not in the way proposed in amendments Nos. 64, 1 and 65. Those three amendments would mean that local authorities could satisfy the duty in the amended clause in a way that enabled outcomes to improve for all children. However, the gap between the most disadvantaged and the rest could widen. I am afraid that that would be the outcome, because an authority would simply have to try to improve outcomes for everybody. If the outcomes for the most advantaged children increased faster and the gap widened, the local authority could still satisfy its duty. The way in which we want local authorities to fulfil that duty is to improve the outcomes for all children through excellent integrated education and child care, but to do so in a way that focuses on the most disadvantaged children and closes the gaps. That is how we want the duty to work.