Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, I very much welcome Part 4 of and Schedule 6 to of the Bill. For a number of years I have been trying to persuade successive Governments to recognise the important role that fathers can play in raising their children. I truly believe that more recognition for fathers will lead to more fathers accepting their responsibilities, not only in relation to conceiving children, but also in connection with caring for their child’s wellbeing as it grows up. I believe that joint registration is a step in the right direction. What now needs to be made clear and understandable is advice to fathers about what their role and responsibilities are. We all think we know the answer to that. However, there are many, many fathers out there who do not. I turn now to Part 1 of the Bill. The Government’s principal objectives in this part seem to be, first, to save public money and, secondly, to reduce child poverty, both very worthy objectives. They propose to achieve these objectives by getting more parents of school-aged children out into full-time work. Fair enough, but I think there may be unintended consequences for the children in some cases. In 2003 this Government commissioned Charles Desforges to do a literature review on the links between family life and child outcomes in school and in later life. The report lists 151 research papers. The report shows a strong correlation between the quality of family life and a child’s outcomes in school and in later life. I should like to quote just one sentence from the summary of that report: ""What parents do with their children at home through the age range is much more significant than any other factor open to educational influence"." I believe we need to improve this Bill to ensure that it does not cheat children of family life, unless it offers them really good alternatives, such as first-class childcare, affordable and available, when and where they need it, and for teenagers activities after school and at weekends and in the holidays. Unless we are careful we are going to end up with many more young children as "latchkey kids" coming home to an empty home at 3.30 pm after school. We are going to end up with more teenagers hanging around on street corners. We are going to end up with many more children alone and unoccupied at weekends and in school holidays. If this Bill is going to succeed in creating a better world and better chances for children, as well as for their parents, the Government must, before they implement its provisions, provide more affordable high-quality childcare. The Government must make their extended day-school programme a reality with safe places for teenagers to go after school and in the holidays; places which offer them activities, which interest and challenge them. I question how these things are going to be done in a recession. But I believe that they must be done if we are not to cheat the children. The Children and Adoption Act 2006 places as a duty on local authorities in England and Wales, but not in Scotland, to provide sufficient childcare for children of working parents. All the evidence I hear is that this is not happening on the ground, and it is on the ground that it matters. Can the Minister explain to me why it seems, in the Government’s mind, more desirable to pay for institutional childcare and get a parent out to work, rather than to accept the father or the mother’s offer to stay at home and look after the child or children? If, for example, it costs £70 or £80 a week to pay for childcare for a child, and you have three children—three sevens are 24—it is £240 a week. Jobseeker’s allowance at £70 a week looks like a snip for the taxpayer. I do not understand the arithmetic or philosophy behind it. Quality childcare alone is not enough. Children need family life. Children need and benefit from parental care and from family life because of the unique bond of love and attachment that exists in nearly every family between parent and child. Parental care and family life are important for a young child’s social and emotional development. The rough and tumble of family life can play a vital role in developing a child’s social and emotional skills, language skills and building their self-esteem and sense of security and belonging and all the things that go with a lively family life, including having a good laugh together from time to time and a good fight, too. I recognise that there is a small minority of families who fail their children, and they will need special care and help, but in this Bill I am concerned with the majority. I conclude that families need time together. Time is the currency of relationships. How can time together be achieved against the background of family poverty and employers threatened by recession that we have today? It is a bad time to be advocating these changes. The realistic solution is to continue, where necessary, to let parents care for their own children when they want to. If the Government want to press forward with Part 1 of the Bill, I shall press in Committee for at least one relatively small amendment to the flexible working provisions of the Employment Rights Act, as amended, to ensure that all parents with young children have at least one full day a week together with their families on days when their children are not at school.