Clause 33 - Requirement to register: early years childminders
Childcare Bill
6:45 pm
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister, Education; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
The principle that I shall talk about in relation to amendment No. 121 also applies to amendments Nos. 123, 124 and 17 in relation to clauses 51, 52 and 34 respectively.
Amendment No. 121 would remove subsection (2) from clause 33. That subsection gives the Secretary of State the power by regulation to enable a child minder to carry on child minding while not being on the register. Before the relevant document was circulated, I could not envisage any circumstances in which that would happen, particularly given the importance of regulating child minding. However, the note sent by the Minister sets out a range of types of provision that will be exempted. I am not sure what status the piece of paper has, but it sets out a large number of reasons why a child minder would not need to be registered and could carry on child minding without being on the register.
The paper talks, for example, about child-minding provision that operates for less than two hours a day or on fewer than six days a year. It says that nannies and babysitters should be exempted. However, those are exempted under existing legislation. The list goes on to talk about child minding provided between 6 pm and 2 am, which means babysitting, either in the child’s home or other domestic premises. Also on the list are babysitting in hotels; crèches that enable parents to go shopping or engage in sporting activities; and activity-based provision, such as that which involves drama, dance, arts and crafts and sport, where the child is looked after while the activities take place.
I am reassured by the piece of paper circulated last night about what the exemptions are all about, but why does the Minister feel that the broad provision in the Bill is necessary? Why does she not incorporate those specific exemptions in the Bill or in regulation? She could have published that at the same time as the Bill.
Amendments Nos. 202, 203 and 206 relate to regulations under what will be sections 33, 34 and 51. These simple amendments would ensure that any such regulations were subject to the affirmative procedure.