Child Care Strategy

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 4:19 pm on 17 November 1999.

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Photo of Sylvia Jackson Sylvia Jackson Labour 4:19, 17 November 1999

Sam Galbraith has already spoken about the substantial investment in child care. On 21 September, he announced an additional £91 million, which was broken down into £42 million and £49 million. Today, he highlighted an extra £14 million. I am sure that in winding up, Peter Peacock will assure Mr Monteith that that is extra money, as he disputed whether it was recycled money or new money. It is new money. Stirling, which Mr Monteith knows well, will receive an extra £191,000 for 2000-01.

I will talk about the importance of our child care strategy in two ways, as there is a dual agenda. The principal aim, which has been mentioned in many speeches today, is to promote greater social inclusion. That involves providing much-needed support for parents and widening the horizons of parents and, importantly, children. Many members have spoken about putting children at the centre.

The second aim is to allow parents to return to work knowing that their children are being cared for in a high-quality environment. The £49 million is being put into child care partnerships and regulatory and inspection mechanisms to ensure that it is a high-quality environment.

The Government has also acknowledged that, as we move towards nursery education for three to five-year-olds, there is a need to provide a partnership of provision that allows parents flexibility to choose the system most appropriate to their needs. I have received many letters about that issue. Many parents support the pre-school playgroup approach, which encourages parental involvement. That is important and I would like it to be extended wherever possible.

Mary Scanlon made a good point in asking what we should be providing at that crucial stage in children's education. A lot of research is examining the importance of dialogue as well as play. Another point that Mary Scanlon mentioned is that it is important that, as far as possible, the system is sufficiently flexible to allow parents the right of deferred entry and still enable them to access two years of pre-school education.

Another issue that has been raised in letters I have received is the point about going across local authority boundaries as it might be more convenient for some parents to access pre-school provision near to the workplace.

I will briefly raise another issue of crucial importance. I do not know how many people saw the "Despatches" programme last week about the number of children who are living on the streets. Last night's BBC 2 programme about a primary school in Wales showed that teachers are having severe difficulty meeting the needs of the disadvantaged pupils who attend their school.

One way to deal with these issues is the rough sleepers initiative, which Wendy Alexander spoke about last week. Another strategy is the move towards more community schools, which is an attempt to have more co-ordination and integration between teachers, social workers and health professionals.

In Stirling, the director of children's services has identified four main principles: put children at the centre; go for inclusion and recognise the rights, needs and wishes of children; go for quality; and go for partnership. It is early days in Stirling, looking at our new community school, but we have already started discussions between the various professionals and the signs are promising.

I will finish with a quotation from one of the teachers in the BBC 2 programme last night. She said:

"Each morning, coming into our school, we have hungry children, sad children, bruised children, children who simply want a cuddle."

Add to that the problems of drink and drugs on the streets: these immense problems need a holistic child care strategy such as the one the Government is pursuing.