Clause 3 - Specific duties of local authority in relation to early childhood services
Childcare Bill
9:00 am
Tim Loughton (Shadow Minister (Children), Health; East Worthing and Shoreham, Conservative)
This is a probing amendment and has been grouped with a Liberal Democrat amendment that deals with a rather different subject, but we shall touch on that at the same time.
The clause includes a list of people with whom an English local authority must engage when it is drawing up and implementing its child care provision plans. We have no objection to that at all and we are particularly pleased with the reference to “parents and prospective parents”. My hon. Friend the Member for South-West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) will greet the inclusion of that as well; it is a subject he may wish to speak about later. The clause also refers to the need to consult early years providers and, equally importantly, it states that the private and voluntary independent sectors should be involved. I am pleased that they are mentioned because they are an important part of the child care provision that we are trying to improve.
The clause goes on to use the fairly catch-all term:
“other persons engaged in activities which may improve the well-being of young children in their area.”
That refers only to people, so we have tabled a probing amendment that refers to voluntary and professional bodies. It is not clear from the explanatory notes whether they would be included automatically. I am sure that they should be and that the Minister intends for them to be included, but it would be useful to clarify the matter during the debate.
A great many voluntary organisations and charities involved with children have done a lot of work in this area and lobbied hard for much of what is in the Bill. They will be an essential part of local decision making and consultation by ensuring that what local authorities are facilitating is appropriate and sufficient. There are also professional and trade bodies representing various independent nurseries; all sorts of other organisations have come together into lobby groups to lobby on the provisions. It is right that those groups should be given a role in what will not be an easy task—the new provision of child care—and it is essential that local authorities are left in no doubt that they should be consulted on an equal basis to the others explicitly listed in the clause. The amendment is a probing one, and I am hopeful that the Minister will say that those groups are automatically included under the various technical definitions used. It will be helpful for her to say that and send out a strong signal on the matter.
I have a good deal of sympathy with amendment No. 193, in the name of the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke), which seeks to add young children to the list as an integral part of the consultation process. Just because a child is young, it does not mean that we can pat them on the head and ignore them.
The National Children’s Bureau has done some interesting work and produced interesting guidance on exactly how we can consult and take account of the views, wishes and preferences of young and very young children. They can be observed in different environments. When a nursery is being built or when a property is being adapted to be a nursery, it is essential to observe how children act in their environment. If the environment is wrong in terms of doors and windows, nooks and crannies, and places where they can play comfortably and be safe, their development and success at that nursery could be impaired. There are a number of ways in which to take on board the views of young children without requiring them to write an essay or to fill in a survey form for the local authority.
Another point, which is not pedantic, is that when we discussed the 2004 Children Bill the Government recognised the importance of properly consulting young children as part of the exercise of setting up the various structures in the legislation. The new children’s commissioner made that a key part of his mandate. Not only was he interviewed by young children, which was apparently one of the more gruelling parts of his selection process, he regularly consults and without a second thought includes children in the various processes that he is dealing with. It would be useful if that could be put in the Bill because it would send a clear signal to local authorities that they should do that automatically. That would greatly benefit the process and add to the quality of the outcomes.
We support the amendment tabled by the hon. Lady, as well as our amendment No. 72.