The Economy and Welfare Reform

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 1:04 pm on 25 May 2005.

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Photo of Gordon Brown Gordon Brown The Chancellor of the Exchequer 1:04, 25 May 2005

I have given way on several occasions.

We have measures in the Queen's Speech not only for housing but to improve the balance between work and family life. The Queen's Speech sets out the importance to our economic strategy of child care. I believe that during the recent general election families welcomed the measures that we put forward: paid maternity leave to be increased to nine months, leave transferable, extending the right to request flexible working, extending nursery education to 15 hours, and the typical constituency to have an average of half a dozen Sure Start children's centres by the time this Parliament finishes. There will be pre-school and after-school child care in extended schools. Governments in the past never even mentioned in Queen's Speeches the needs of parents of under-fives. We are able through the Queen's Speech to legislate for what effectively will be a new frontier for our welfare state to help families in bringing up their children, and particularly to meet the education and health needs of the under-fives.

That proves that just as we are the Government of home owners, we are the Government of working families.