Women and Equality – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 7 February 2008.
Tony Lloyd
Chair, Parliamentary Labour Party
10:30,
7 February 2008
If she will collate and publish information on access to nursery facilities as a means of encouraging women into work.
Barbara Follett
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Government Equalities Office
I apologise to everyone for the delay in answering.
We are supporting women who return to work by ensuring that they have access to good quality child care. The Government are working with local authorities and stakeholders to implement practical ways of increasing access to formal child care that will bring positive benefits to children and families. We have placed a new duty on local authorities in England to collate and publish information on child care sufficiency by March.
Tony Lloyd
Chair, Parliamentary Labour Party
My hon. Friend's answer was worth waiting for. [ Interruption. ] The House is very slow this morning, Mr. Speaker. The need to collate information is absolutely vital in this area. We now know that among the biggest barriers to women returning to work is the lack of affordable and available child care. We also know that child care provision is patchy across the country, particularly in areas with Conservative councils. When the information is collated, will it be possible to bring some pressure to bear on the local authorities in areas of under-provision to ensure that women are given a proper chance to get back into work?
Barbara Follett
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Government Equalities Office
I thank my hon. Friend for his courtesy and apologise for my slowness. I congratulate Manchester City council on its work in that respect, which has helped many more women to get into work. The Government are providing substantial help, totalling £18.5 million a day, for working families through the working tax credit. We provide £3 million a day to help working families with 80 per cent. of their child care costs. A lot is being done and we hope to do a lot more. I hope that the relevant figures will be made available to my hon. Friend and to other hon. Members so that they can ensure that their constituents get the child care they need and deserve.
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