Clause 18 - Meaning of childcare
Childcare Bill
5:45 pm
Annette Brooke (Shadow Minister, Education & Skills; Mid Dorset and North Poole, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman has made some interesting points on his probing amendments, and I look forward to hearing the responses.
The Liberal Democrat amendments come back to my obsession about the crèche example, but I do not need to repeat the argument. I was allowed to use the word crèche in amendment No. 280. That is part of the problem—I was told that the amendment might not be accepted if I used a word that was not in the Bill. That is how I got tangled up in trying to make similar proposals in various places. Amendments Nos. 280 and 281 have much the same purpose in that they try to point out that if something is not regulated, it should perhaps not be considered as child care so that parents will understand that it is unregulated.
The Minister kindly provided us with a copy of the exemptions power, which I have skimmed through but have not had time to read fully. It mentions the crèche and my point about being open for less than two hours, as well as a number of other circumstances in which some form of looking after children will not be regulated. I accept that we do not want to create over-burdensome regulation when there are bound to be instances in which the temporary looking after of children will be required. However, the conclusion of the exemptions power says:
“Exemptions are important in ensuring a proportionate approach to registration and inspection. However, in every case, providers that are exempted will be able to join the Ofsted Childcare Register and enjoy the benefits that it brings. In particular, we will ask Ofsted to encourage those providers for whom registration ceases to be compulsory to join the new register and continue to be tax creditable.”
I agree with that, and I would see it as a positive if it meant that Ofsted would be respected because people had voluntarily signed up to the register. However, I am a little concerned that it might give even more credibility and strength to parents’ belief that a particular facility is regulated when it is not. I am not sure what that means, and I welcome the opportunity to ask the Minister to address my concerns, which come back to the point that a parent has to know when looking after children is unregulated. I prefer not use the term child care in such circumstances.