Childcare Bill

The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the £17 billion that we have put into child care provision over the past eight years—enough money to ensure that local authorities are already taking that duty seriously. We are building on those duties, but we are not providing any new unfunded pressures in the Bill. In 1997, there was a massive gap between the needs of parents and the availability of child care, with a place available for only one in eight children under the age of eight. With an increase of almost 600,000 registered child care places, there is a place available for one in four children. In 1997, there was no guarantee of a nursery place—now there is free part-time nursery provision for every three and four-year-old who wants it. In 1997, there was no help for working parents with the cost of child care. Now, 337,000 families have benefited from the child care element of the working tax credit, compared with a mere 47,000 who benefited from the child care disregard of family credit.