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

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

I am sure that the Minister knows that, as a result of a constituency case, I have been trying throughout the Bill to put some protection into the system without the need for more regulation. Something has to be done, given that there was nearly an horrendous incident in Poole town centre. It may be almost an obsession, but that is not to the detriment of the point that I am trying to make.

I suspect that the Minister will say that the new clause is too airy-fairy about the conditions under which such child care is provided. However, I want parents to be informed when they deposit their children with the provider of any form of child care, perhaps by a notice on the wall, that the carer is not regulated or registered. Parents should know exactly the terms under which children are being cared for.

In an open and competitive market, child care providers who are fully registered will automatically provide such information; it will be to their advantage to give parents the fullest encouragement to leave their children there. However, we have such a long list of exemptions that I believe that it would be right to require providers to tell parents, in some form or other, that they are exempted. They may also wish to say, “Nevertheless, all our staff have x, y and z qualifications.” It would be open to the provider to decide what additional information to give. That might be another safeguard to help deal with a situation that I have described many times before.

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