Childcare Bill

I thank my hon. Friend for his helpful sedentary intervention. We set out our views in a number of manifestos, and said consistently that we supported Sure Start. Perhaps by the end of the debate the hon. Member for Doncaster, North (Edward Miliband) would like to quote the manifesto in which we made it absolutely clear that we were supporting Sure Start, and significantly, that we would guarantee the funding for Sure Start, as well as supporting the concept of it. The issue of providing value for money, about which I was speaking earlier, brings me to my second concern, which is the implication of the duty being placed on local authorities to ensure adequate provision of child care. Several of my hon. Friends have referred to that, and they have had a mixed bag of responses from the Secretary of State, who on the one hand appeared to say that there were no unfunded provisions in the Bill, and on the other, that there were provisions in the Bill, but it did not matter because they were funded. That is not the view of local authorities looking ahead to the implications of the Bill, because it places a duty on them to secure as far as is reasonably practicable child care that meets the requirements of parents who want to work or undertake training. The Secretary of State said, and I agree, that the Bill confirms the vital role that local authorities will play as strategic leaders. We know the skills that local authorities have in delivering cost-effective services, meeting the needs of local people. Yet once again we see in the Bill the Government giving local authorities another job to do without giving them the resources to do it. Time after time we have seen this ploy by Ministers and we are now seeing a repeat performance. As a result of the Bill, local authorities will be left literally holding the baby. Simply shifting the problem to local authorities without providing additional money will do little to solve the problem. It may lead to yet higher council tax bills for many people, because councils do not have a magic wand to wave and create more child care places. I say to the Secretary of State that if she genuinely believes that there are no funding requirements for local authorities in this Bill, she is living in cloud cuckoo land. The Secretary of State does not need to look at me for evidence. The Local Government Association spokesman on children’s services, Councillor Alison King, has said that without substantial extra government investment, it is hard to see how the Bill will increase the amount of affordable child care for low-income families. She said also that to be on track to meet the Government’s ambitions means investing £200 million in the next two years, over and above existing resources. Perhaps the Minister who winds up will tell us where the money will come from.