Free Childcare 12.42 pm Layla Moran (Oxford West and
Abingdon) (LD) (Urgent Question) To ask the Secretary of
State for Education to make a statement on the process for applying
for free childcare hours from September 2017. The Minister of
State, Department for Education (Mr Robert Goodwill) Thank
you, Mr Speaker, for allowing...Request free trial
Free Childcare
12.42 pm
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(Oxford West and
Abingdon) (LD)
(Urgent Question) To ask the Secretary of State for
Education to make a statement on the process for applying
for free childcare hours from September 2017.
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The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Robert
Goodwill)
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing the urgent question. It
gives me an opportunity to highlight the Government’s
determination to invest a record amount in childcare,
supporting early education and helping parents financially.
That amount will total £6 billion annually by 2020.
My Department is committed to ensuring that three and
four-year-olds have access to free early education. All
parents, regardless of income and employment status, are
entitled to 15 hours of free early education for their
three and four-year-olds, and for parents who are working
we are providing access to an additional 15 hours of free
childcare from September 2017. Parents who want to take up
30 hours of free childcare can apply through the digital
childcare service. They can access the application via the
Childcare Choices website, which provides information on
all the Government’s childcare offers. The application
process takes about 20 minutes. I have recently had a
walk-through of the service myself; it is straightforward,
and the format will be very familiar to parents who have
used other Government digital services.
The childcare service is a complex IT system, which checks
parents’ eligibility in real time by interfacing with other
Government IT systems. The vast majority of parents will
receive an instant eligibility response, but there will be
a delay for some parents whose eligibility is not
immediately clear—for example, for some self-employed
people. The service has also experienced technical issues
which have meant that it has been unavailable to parents on
a small number of occasions. Her Majesty’s Revenue and
Customs, which has developed the service, has been working
hard to resolve those issues, and as a result the customer
experience has improved.
The application has been open to the parents of under-fours
since 21 April, and today my Treasury colleagues will make
a written ministerial statement informing the House that
the service has been further rolled out to the parents of
under-fives, the so-called summer babies. Parents whose
application is successful will receive a 30 hours
eligibility code to take to their provider in order to
claim their childcare place. As of today, more than 145,000
codes have been generated from successful applications.
That is an increase of almost 5,000 codes since Friday 14
July and an increase of almost 25,000 since Friday 7 July.
Increasing numbers of parents are successfully applying. It
is great news that so many families will benefit from 30
hours in September because, as we have seen from our early
implementer and early roll-out areas, the support can make
a positive difference to the lives of hard-working
families.
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Several hon. Members rose—
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Mr Speaker
Order. Before we proceed to the hon. Member for Oxford West
and Abingdon (Layla Moran) and to subsequent questioners, I
must make it clear that I granted the urgent question
because of the narrow and specific focus on the issue of
the accessibility, or otherwise, of the Government’s
website. This is not an occasion for a general debate about
childcare policy. If Members want just—this is not unknown
in politics—to score political points and to ask rhetorical
questions, that is not what this exchange is about. It will
run for 20 minutes and it will focus on the particular
issue that the hon. Lady identified in her application.
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I thank the Minister for his response, but as some may be
reading in their end-of-year reports due this week, “Good
effort; just not good enough.” The process for applying for
free childcare is confusing both for parents and nurseries.
As one parent said to me:
“getting the code was the most complicated process that I
have ever endured. I would imagine that many parents would
give up!”
They explained that
“you get passed from pillar to post between different areas
of the website, each asking you for a different password,
sent to you by SMS or email. Is this really necessary?”
As Members will attest, setting up two-factor
authentication on our phones was difficult enough, and we
have a well-resourced IT department. Who is helping the
parents at home who are juggling this with jobs and caring
for their young children? As a result, parents have not
been able to open accounts to pay their nursery, playgroup
or pre-school. Even some of the providers, particularly in
the voluntary sector, cannot register.
The Government’s roll-out of 30 hours of free childcare is
welcome, but only if it is of high quality and if parents
can access it readily. Therefore, I ask the Minister: why
is the Department for Education website still sending
parents a holding response when they finally submit an
online application? How long is the Department taking to
confirm eligibility? What proportion of children eligible
for the free childcare have been able to do so? Moreover,
with the end of the school term rapidly approaching, how
can nurseries plan for the upcoming year if parents cannot
provide them with their voucher details? What support can
the Government provide to nurseries to plan and budget
effectively for an as-yet-unknown number of children who
will be joining them on 1 September? Finally, what will the
Government do to review the matter and the accessibility of
the online registration process so that this does not
happen again next year?
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Mr Speaker
Thank you.
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Mr Goodwill
The hon. Lady asks some reasonable questions. I reassure
her that, at the moment, 2,850 parents are registering per
weekday and we are on track to reach, we think, about
200,000 by the end of the month. I encourage parents to get
on with it. We do not want everyone to leave it until 11.30
pm on 31 August. As I said, the vast majority of cases are
processed fairly simply, but because we need to check that
the person meets the eligibility criteria on income,
sometimes there are complications. I have mentioned
self-employed people and people who change jobs, so
occasionally it is more complex. I reassure the hon. Lady
on the point about people who cannot use the online system.
We have an offline process for any parents who experience
persistent technical difficulties. I encourage anyone who
has those problems to take up the matter.
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(Harlow) (Con)
I congratulate the Minister on his new appointment. What
resources are being given to those from disadvantaged
backgrounds to ensure that they have access to the 30 hours
of free childcare?
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Mr Goodwill
Obviously, disadvantaged children are eligible for free
childcare at the age of two and that continues for 15 hours
through to the age of four. That additional funding and
that additional 15 hours are for people in work. Some of
those people may be on low incomes. A person who is working
16 hours at the national minimum wage qualifies. I have
already mentioned that there is an offline system for
people who may have problems and who cannot use the online
system because of sight or other difficulties. However, the
evidence so far is that the applications are coming in.
They are now being presented to their providers and they
will come back to us via the local authorities. May I make
the point that some local authorities have been a bit tardy
in passing the codes back to us? If anyone goes back over
the recess, do ask them whether they are getting on with
it, because that is another area where we need to see some
improvement.
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(Batley and Spen)
(Lab/Co-op)
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question.
What a shame it is that, when we could be weeks away from a
great breakthrough for providers, parents and most
importantly children, we are instead discussing a policy
that is riddled with holes—and, my word, are there
questions to answer!
Just yesterday the Minister’s colleagues in the Treasury
admitted in response to one of my written questions:
“It is not possible to provide a definitive number of
applications not completed due to technical issues”.
Will the Minister give us his estimate of just how many
parents suffered these “technical issues”? What steps are
being put in place to fix the system, and what guarantees
can he make to parents that, as the August deadline
approaches, the system will work for them?
How many calls has the hotline received? Of the 30,000
people who applied and were rejected, what were the reasons
for those rejections and can the Minister guarantee that
those rejections were correct and not due to system errors?
What about the parents on zero-hours contracts who are
simply unable to guarantee that they will work over the
minimum weekly hours: how many of them will be refused the
childcare they were promised?
Finally, as the Minister will be aware, there are huge
problems with this offer and there are many other questions
to answer. As the Minister likes to refer my written
questions to those at the national provider, Childcare
Works, with implementation weeks away will he accept my
request to meet them as soon as possible?
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Mr Goodwill
In welcoming the hon. Lady to her place, I have to say she
is very much not a glass half full person. This is a great
childcare offer. Yesterday morning, I was in the city of
York, one of the pilot areas, meeting providers and parents
who were benefiting, and I heard from people who said,
“This is a great offer. It means no longer do I have to
pass my husband in the hallway as I go out to my evening
job and he comes in from his daytime job.” We heard of
eight people in York who are now accessing employment
because of the childcare being available. So it is a great
offer and I am very proud that it has been delivered. We
have ironed out the glitches in the software, and people
are registering; as I have said, we are on track for
200,000.
The hon. Lady asked how many people we expect to register,
and the short answer is that we do not know, because it is
a voluntary system to which people will opt in. Also, of
course, there will be three tranches. It will not all
happen with a big bang in September; there will be another
tranche of parents who qualify in January and another
tranche after Easter. It is great news for working
families—something this Government are delivering on.
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Sir (New Forest West)
(Con)
Given the amount of my time that was taken, the amount of
time that my constituent had to give up, and indeed the
amount of time given by the technical support people in the
Minister’s Department, all as a consequence of the fact
that my constituent had an apostrophe in her name, can the
Minister speculate why on earth we were not told that there
was a manual workaround?
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Mr Goodwill
I have made that clear today. There have been a number of
outages, several of which were to fix some of the glitches
to which my right hon. Friend draws attention. The most
recent one was due to a power supply issue between 6 pm and
10.20 pm last night, 17 July. That has now been fixed and
the system is up and running again.
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Mr Speaker
Very reassuring.
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(Airdrie and Shotts)
(SNP)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon
(Layla Moran) on securing this urgent question, and given
that this is largely a devolved matter, I will be brief.
Ensuring affordable, flexible and secure childcare is one
of the best ways to narrow the gender pay gap, by helping
parents back to work when it suits them, and also to
prepare children best for school. In Scotland, the Scottish
Government are trialling childcare funding following the
child by investing £1 million to make sure that, when we
expand free childcare to 1,140 hours, parents have the
choice to decide what is best for them and for their
children. We are also going further than the UK Government
by helping the most vulnerable two-year-olds in Scotland,
to ensure that all children can have the best start in
life. That is quite a contrast to the issues being faced by
parents south of the border. If disadvantaged parents are
not able to apply for childcare by the deadline due to the
Minister’s website problems, how will they will be
supported thereafter?
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Mr Goodwill
I thank the hon. Gentleman for the party election broadcast
on behalf of the Scottish National party. The website is up
and running and, as I have said, 2,850 parents per day are
registering and getting their confirmation codes; we
encourage people to do so as soon as possible, rather than
leave it to the last minute. Indeed, I am very pleased that
we are now on track. Some 143,000 valid 30 hour contract
codes have been generated and we are on track to reach our
target of 200,000 by the end of next month.
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(Taunton Deane)
(Con)
As a mother with three children, I have been through a raft
of different child support schemes. There were none
initially, which is why I welcome the fact that this
support is in place; we must not forget that. Obviously, it
is essential that parents have confidence that they can
apply. Will the Minister reassure those who are
struggling—not just parents but nurseries; I understand the
difficulties—that we will help them? I have met people from
many nurseries in my constituency. We are relying on them
to deliver this service, so can we have assurances that it
will work?
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Mr Goodwill
That is why we ran the scheme through 12 development areas.
Indeed, 15,000 children are already enjoying it, including
those in the families I met in York yesterday. It really is
a good offer. Of course there is flexibility in the system:
one can use a childminder, a pre-school playgroup, or a
formalised nursery setting and mix and match the hours. So
it is a great opportunity. Indeed, the hours can be spread
over the holidays; currently, 30 hours a week for 38 weeks
are available, but that can be spread over the year for
those who wish to cover the holidays as well.
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(Manchester Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
The Minister says that 120,000 codes have now been issued
and that he expects that to rise to 200,000 by the end of
the month, but given that the Government’s own estimate of
the number of eligible families is in excess of 390,000, by
my maths that means that only just over a quarter of those
eligible have now got their codes. Given that we had
warning after warning from providers that the scheme would
be unaffordable to them and that they worried about there
being sufficient places, how are they supposed to plan for
September when only just over a quarter of families have
registered for this scheme to date?
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Mr Goodwill
I am afraid that the hon. Lady is making a fundamental
error. The total number will come in three tranches: one in
September, one in January and one after Easter, as children
reach the eligible age. This will be an ongoing system, and
therefore—[Interruption.] The children starting in
September need to apply by the end of August. There is no
rush for parents whose children turn three in time for
starting in January. We are on track to deliver 200,000 by
1 September. Subsequent tranches of children will come in
after Christmas and Easter.
A number of concerns have been raised about providers being
able to deliver for the funding we have provided, and we
have put additional funding in. I am pleased to say that in
the city of York, where I was yesterday, despite the fact
that some of the private sector providers expressed
disquiet, 100% of providers are delivering on the scheme.
Indeed, in contrast to the numbers projected, we have 117%
delivery.
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(Mid Dorset and
North Poole) (Con)
Dorset was one of the pilot areas for 30 hours of free
childcare. Will my hon. Friend update the House on the
performance of those pilots, specifically in relation to
the online system?
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Mr Goodwill
Those in the pilots did not participate in the online
system we have in place now; there was an all manually
based system. I can assure the House, however, that 4,000
parents were involved in testing the service and valuable
lessons have been learned from Dorset regarding the
operation of the service and provision of free places.
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(Scunthorpe) (Lab)
In light of these additional difficulties in bringing in what
is a very welcome policy, what additional support will the
Government give to nurseries that are preparing to deliver
the scheme? We need to make sure that the resources are there
for delivery.
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Mr Goodwill
As I have said, we increased the funding to allow for it to
be delivered; an average funding of £4.94 for each hour is
now being provided. That was in direct response to the
concerns of some providers about the level of funding, but I
have to say that even the providers who said that the funding
was not sufficient have now managed to deliver at this price.
Indeed, the nursery I visited yesterday said it had surplus
places before the pilot scheme was introduced, but is now
full, which is great news for it in terms of its overall
funding.
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(Eastleigh) (Con)
Small, community-led pre-schools, such as the one in Hedge
End in my constituency, are not necessarily groups, and they
are worried about the process for them and for local parents.
Will my hon. Friend tell us what the Government have done to
ensure that all early-years providers are able to deliver the
30 hours for those families and to retain the positivity
around this programme?
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Mr Goodwill
Parents have a choice about where to deploy their 30 hours of
care. It can be with a childminder or in a nursery school,
but it can also be with one of the many excellent voluntary
sector providers, including pre-school playgroups. My wife
used to run a pre-school playgroup, so I have been briefed on
this issue. It is vital that people have a choice about where
to send their children that suits their lifestyle, their work
and the logistics of getting their children to that setting.
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Mr (Huddersfield)
(Lab/Co-op)
The Minister will know that I was Chair of the then Children,
Schools and Families Select Committee when the Labour
Government set us on this path, and I am sure that most
Labour Members will welcome this good news. I have a vested
interest in this subject, having 10 grandchildren and, I
hope, more to come. However, many people in my constituency
are struggling with access and are not very computer
literate. Will he consider enabling the National Day
Nurseries Association, which is based in my constituency, and
the other marvellous children’s charities to help by being
the interlocutors between the Government and our
constituents?
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Mr Goodwill
In the short time that I have had this portfolio, I have met
a number of organisations and I particularly look forward to
meeting the hon. Gentleman’s own locally based organisations.
That is very much on my bucket list. We certainly wish to
engage as widely as possible with representatives of
providers and of the families who are benefiting from this
programme. Also, I have to say that we could not deliver this
£6 billion a year of funding without the successful economy
that this Conservative Government are delivering.
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(Witney) (Con)
As the parent of a one-year-old, I am very grateful for this
scheme as I find my way through the challenges of parenthood.
I am sure that many others will feel the same. Will the
Minister please tell the House what testing was carried out
prior to the launch of the system, and how many parents were
involved?
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Mr Goodwill
As I have said, there were two aspects to the testing. We had
pilot areas in which we tested the delivery, working with the
providers, and that was very successful, particularly in the
city of York and North Yorkshire, where I was yesterday. In
relation to the system, we had 4,000 parents involved.
Indeed, I had a run-through to demonstrate how the system
works. However, there are sometimes complications when people
change jobs or when self-employed people’s accounts have not
been submitted. In such cases, the telephone service can be
used as a back-up.
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(North Norfolk) (LD)
It is clearly important to resolve the problems as quickly as
possible. My hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and
Abingdon (Layla Moran) asked a number of factual questions,
along with some others, which the Minister has not been able
to answer directly today. Will he write to all those who have
participated in the urgent question by the end of business on
Thursday, so that we may have a full understanding of the
picture?
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Mr Goodwill
I will certainly be happy to give updates. As I have said, we
have now passed 143,000 valid applications—not 120,000, as
the hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell)
suggested earlier—and I would be more than happy to give the
right hon. Gentleman ongoing updates on that.
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Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the Minister and to colleagues. In a moment,
I will call the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim
Farron) to make an application for leave to propose a debate
on a specific and important matter that should have urgent
consideration under the terms of Standing Order No. 24. The
hon. Gentleman has up to three minutes in which to make his
application.
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