Annette Brooke (Shadow Minister, Education & Skills; Mid Dorset & North Poole, Liberal Democrat)

I want to reciprocate the support of the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton). I agree with the principles of amendment No. 72. I am not sure about the drafting, but the hon. Gentleman has outlined the people and groups that   need to be fully involved. It would be comforting to those groups to state in the Bill that they will be involved throughout.

On amendment No. 193, I was heartened by the rebuff from the Minister on Tuesday in so far as I understand that under clause 3(4)

“An English local authority must take all reasonable steps to encourage and facilitate the involvement in the making and implementation of arrangements under this section”.

I was assured that that included listening to parents as well as implementation. I am therefore encouraged that inserting paragraph (d), which would include listening to young children, into the list would be totally appropriate.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the pioneering work by the National Children’s Bureau and others, and I also referred to that at an earlier sitting. I am pleased that the Government have been so supportive of that work. However, to have a commitment to listen to the views of young children has yet to be enshrined in law and what better place to start than the Childcare Bill? This is an opportunity to be pioneering.

The Early Childhood Forum’s response to the consultation on the 10-year child care strategy states:

“In particular there is disappointment that the ethos of listening to children, which was prevalent in the Every Child Matters document, is not mentioned nearly enough to warrant recognition of the importance it has on the quality of service provision and the well being of children. Nor will this document be a catalyst for changing the attitudes towards listening to our youngest children. It would be a shame to miss the ideal opportunity to cement that commitment to listening to children from birth about the services they use.”

Listening to young children is a foundation for quality early childhood practice. In fact, it is a way of spreading best practice between local authorities and providers because the interaction would enhance the service and introduce all the practices that we will have, perhaps in regulations, when we know more about the early foundations stage.

It is an amendment that we can put forward confidently, because the additional duty of listening to young children is unlikely to be an added cost, for once. It is part of the process of improving the work force and raising quality. There is quite a lot of anecdotal evidence showing how quality has been improved, and I want to refer to a paper that I was given by Investors in Children.

Mooney and Blackburn sought children’s views to identify some quality indicators for effective early years practice and environments that were used to inform the Government’s Investors in Children quality assurance scheme endorsement. Among the views expressed, it was suggested that child care settings should offer opportunities to be with friends as well as outdoor play space, refreshments, fair rules—I think that children are good at equality when they talk about what is fair and what is not fair—and caring and interested adults who listen. How often do we hear “Nobody is listening to me”? It was also suggested that child care settings should offer a safe environment—I think that children are good judges of that—and so on. The paper contains a great deal of good practice, and I offer the Minister this pioneering opportunity to agree to amendment No. 193.

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