Clause 33 - Requirement to register: early years childminders
Childcare Bill
6:45 pm
Beverley Hughes (Minister of State (Children, Young People and Families), Department for Education and Skills; Stretford and Urmston, Labour)
I am glad that, having seen the note that we circulated, which reflects the current position and how we apply it in the light of the new arrangements in the Bill, the hon. Gentleman has accepted both the principle of exemption and that the examples that we have included are—[Interruption.] He says from a sedentary position that he does not accept the principle. I must have misunderstood him; I thought that he was saying he was reassured by what he had read in the note and that the exemptions were reasonable. The principle is important.
With regard to exemptions, we are talking about situations, which, were they not exempted, would be required to go through the whole panoply of registration and inspection by Ofsted. They would be required to deliver the early-years framework if caring was for children under five.
The situations that we have defined—where provision operates for less than two hours a day, or on fewer than six days a year, or where nannies and babysitters are caring for children in their own homes—reflect the fact that there is part of the arena of child care that is within the province of parents. I have heard the argument put by Conservative Members on many occasions that within the more private and domestic sphere, parents themselves have a responsibility and a duty to satisfy themselves with the care that they leave their children within. It is not the case that every single situation, however brief and for whatever purpose, could or should be regulated by Government. There must be an appropriate balance. That is why the power to exempt is in the clause, and the paper that we circulated last night gives some indication about the situations that we would seek to exempt.
I hope that hon. Members agree that it would be disproportionate to require that settings in which children are looked after for such short periods, or in their own home, should be registered. At present, Ofsted has to decide whether a particular provision counts as child care and therefore needs to be registered, and that is often a difficult decision for Ofsted to make. Care does not happen in isolation: care and early education happen simultaneously. However, at present, care is required to be registered and education is not. When older children play football at an after-school club, is that child care that needs to be registered, or is it activity-based provision, which does not? The Bill’s new approach will take away that grey area about what is or is not required to be registered. I hope that hon. Members have been reassured by the paper that we circulated.
Amendments Nos. 202, 203 and 206 would constrain our ability to adjust the Bill to meet the needs of changing times. They would require exemption orders to be approved by both Houses before they came into force. We take seriously the need for appropriate parliamentary scrutiny, but for the exceptions, the arrangements that we are proposing are proportionate and satisfactory. I ask the hon. Gentleman to withdraw the amendments.