Work and Families Bill

I strongly support the amendment and hope there are other opportunities to promote the cause of making the Government’s welcome provision more generous. At Second Reading I sought to outline why I felt that this provision was so important. I may have seemed somewhat extravagant in my comments on the impact on children and adults in society, but I should have referred to the Government’s childcare strategy paper published in December 2004, Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy for childcare. It states in Annex A on child development:"““Evidence would suggest there is a case for enabling mothers to stay at home when the child is very young, if they wish to do so. Maternity leave is the key mechanism to achieve this. Evidence suggests that paid maternity leave is associated with a range of significant benefits, such as lower maternal depression, lower infant mortality (four per cent reduction when leave is extended 10 weeks), fewer low birthweight babies, more breast-feeding, and more use of preventative healthcare. Unpaid leave does not have the same protective effects””." I should add another excerpt from the paper. It states:"““For those mothers who want to return to work soon after the birth of a child, it is important for them to be able to access high quality, appropriate childcare””." I hope your Lordships will forgive me. I intend to speak at a greater length than perhaps the Committee would wish to this first amendment, but I intend to say very little during the rest of the afternoon. Perhaps I may add a further quotation from the annex. It states that,"““during the first year of a child’s life, in the majority of cases it is good for the child to receive consistent one-to-one care. For health reasons (e.g. breast-feeding) mothers should have a genuine choice to be the main carer in the early months of a child’s life. There are also child development benefits that derive from close parental contact in the early years””." The evidence is clear about the importance of the significant impact that the amendment will make and why it is so important that parents, particularly mothers, have a genuine choice in these matters. On Monday, I was speaking with a child psychotherapist about this issue. She has established child and baby projects in Holloway Prison and in other women’s prisons, and a similar project in a women’s hostel in Camden Sure Start scheme. Her view is that a one-to-one relationship with a primary carer, normally the mother in the first nine to 12 months is most important to the child’s successful development. At the same time a discrete relationship with the father is also crucial. Finally, the regular play of both parents together with the child is highly desirable, because that not only binds the child to the parents, but binds the parents to the child. The more joy that they have in a child, the more joy she can have in them. That is particularly important given the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, about family break-up and the stress that having a child can have on a family. So the Bill needs to go as far as it can in making it possible for mothers, should they wish, to devote most of their attention to the child in the first year of life. It is that attachment that enables children to begin to master their feelings. With that done, they can concentrate at school and become passionate about their work and, perhaps later, passionate about a family of their own. They are less likely to fall into depression later in life or have a tendency towards aggressive outbursts or other difficulties in managing their emotions. I ask your Lordships to cast your minds back to one of the quotations I have just read regarding what happens when there are difficulties and the mother needs to return to work soon after the birth of a child. They need at that time access to high quality and appropriate childcare. Sadly, it is well recognised that there is a lack of good quality childcare. That is not to say that there are not many people out there doing a good job, but we have to recognise that, generally, there is not the capacity that we need in this area. I welcome the Government’s next Bill on childcare. Realistically, however, it will be several years before high quality childcare is widely available to all. There is particular concern about the quality of childcare for the very young, those less than 12 months. I hope it becomes clear how important the noble Baroness’s amendment is. A good start, a strong relationship with his mother, enables a child to manage his emotions. Without Blake’s ““arrows of desire”” there can be no mental fight nor any hope of building Jerusalem in this green and pleasant land. I hope Members of the Committee will not mind my being a little poetic.  Children need to live to their full potential and make the fullest contribution to society. With the decline in our birth rate, never has the successful growth of each of our children been more important to us all. I urge Members of the Committee to consider the amendment very carefully.