Finance (No.2) Bill

The hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) is right: we have discussed these matters at length before. Quality is important, and although the number of childminders has fallen in the past, if we want children to be properly looked after in a child care setting, we must ensure that setting is of the highest possible quality. Unfortunately, some childminders were not able to provide that high-quality care and did not want to continue. We are talking about the most vulnerable children who need high-quality care. Childminders who felt that they were not able to offer that any more and did not want to go through the Ofsted registration process might have been one reason behind that fall in numbers.