Miss Joan Lestor: My hon. Friend knows that he and I agree about this matter. Not all mothers want to work; nor should they, if they do not wish to. But their children, too, benefit from attendance at pre-school nurseries and from participation in other activities. This is a service for children and should not be dependent on the working status of their parents. A Government committed to a family policy would...
Miss Joan Lestor: I will not give way again; I have given way on several occasions. The hon. Gentleman is not as persuasive as my hon. Friend, but if he keeps it up, who knows, I may give way.
Miss Joan Lestor: I think that the whole question of workplace nurseries and the way they fit in with the needs of young children should be looked at very closely. Many people would welcome them. We want a complete survey of what is taking place in pre-school education, because many children's needs are not being met. I know what the Select Committee has said, and I am very interested in it. But we do not make...
Miss Joan Lestor: I will go on for a few moments, and then I will give way to my hon. Friend. As I have said, a Government committed to a family policy would have full employment as a goal because that is what many families need. The poverty and demoralisation of families living with unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment, cannot be overstressed. Hopelessness and lack of self-esteem are experienced...
Miss Joan Lestor: I shall not give way to the hon. Lady. She has already interrupted me. She had a chance to have a go at me on television, but did not take advantage of it. She had better keep quiet for a little while.
Miss Joan Lestor: Predictably, as we all know, families with children and pensioners form the majority of those living in poverty in this country. If someone is in full-time employment but on a low wage, he or she is poor; if someone is caring for a child with a disability, he or she is at greater risk of poverty because of the need to provide full-time care. According to the International Year of the Family...
Miss Joan Lestor: I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, but this is the last time I shall do so for any Conservative Member.
Miss Joan Lestor: The hon. Gentleman has got himself into a little difficulty. What is the trouble about the Government's taxation policy? First, Ministers told people that they would not increase taxation, but promptly did so. Secondly, people who are least able to pay have to contribute more than those who are able to pay. That is the contradiction. I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that if money is needed he...
Miss Joan Lestor: Yes, just as my hon. Friend says. From this October, we shall all have to pay an extra 2.5 per cent. for home, car and travel insurance. Again, people living in Britain's poorest areas will be hardest hit. They already pay seven times more in home insurance premiums than families in better-off areas. My hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Ms Harman) cited the family living in central...
Miss Joan Lestor: The Government Whip says that it is being so cheerful that keeps me going. I am not cheerful about what I see happening to children and families. If the hon. Gentleman thinks that this is something to be cheerful about, it is little wonder that the Government are fading as they are. Health visitors are reporting rising levels of diarrhoea, nappy rash and thrush as a result of poor hygiene....
Miss Joan Lestor: I shall not give way to the hon. Lady, who does not represent the sort of children I am talking about. These are not remarkable coincidences; they are the direct result of the Government's years of neglect of families. The strains on individuals as a result are enormous. This leads me to the third aspect of the International Year of the Family—families and relationships. As we all know,...
Miss Joan Lestor: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Miss Joan Lestor: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Miss Joan Lestor: If the age of consent becomes 18 and, in the Home Secretary's words, young men may be unsure of where they stand between the ages of 16 and 18, how on earth will they find out what they are unless they experiment? But if they experiment, he will send them to prison. Prison is hardly the place to get people out of homosexuality. [Interruption.]
Miss Joan Lestor: This is the International Year of the Family, an irony that has not escaped me as I have listened to the catalogue of complaints from hon. Members of all parties about how a Government agency acts against the interests of parents and children. One of the aims of the IYF, according to the Government-funded office in London, is to be a catalyst for building a more family friendly society. The...
Miss Joan Lestor: I shall not give way. With great courtesy, may I say to the hon. Gentleman that both the Government and the Opposition Front-Bench teams agreed to cut the length of their speeches so that more Back Benchers could speak. I have a lot to say and, although I speak quickly, I might not have time to advance all my arguments. Some people have lost benefit because they have refused to co-operate...
Miss Joan Lestor: Yes; I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Many such parents are responsible caring parents, who pay regularly and who share the care of their children. The hon. Member for Billericay dismisses such matters, but those fathers take care of their children, take them on holiday and buy them clothes and all sorts of other extras above the maintenance levels agreed in court. The White Paper "Children...
Miss Joan Lestor: rose—
Miss Joan Lestor: Don't call me dear.
Miss Joan Lestor: He dare not. He has not got the guts. The giveaway was making the agency chief executive into a bounty hunter through the introduction of performance-related bonuses. The Secretary of State said that that was not so, and that the arrangement was no different from what happened everywhere else. However, he said that there were no plans to make the document available in the Library; so if what...