Treasury Committee launches inquiry into childcare policy and its influence on the economy

• The Treasury Committee is today launching a new inquiry into childcare policy and its influence on the economy.

• The Committee will examine the role high quality, accessible, flexible and affordable childcare can play in supporting labour productivity.

• It will scrutinise the processes around how childcare schemes are delivered and the quality of childcare interfaces – such as the Childcare Service website and their previous failures.

• It will also consider the overall package of Government initiatives that aim to make childcare affordable, how the individual initiatives interact with each other and their effectiveness, and whether they have delivered an adequate provision of affordable childcare that facilitates parental employment.

• The first evidence session of this inquiry will be on 31 January 2018 with Rt Hon. Elizabeth Truss MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, with responsibility for childcare policy.

Commenting on the launch of the inquiry, Rt Hon. Nicky Morgan MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, said:

“High quality and affordable childcare is important for getting parents into work and supporting working families.  The Treasury Committee will look at how it delivers benefits to the economy and supports labour productivity and participation.

“We’ll also look at the effectiveness of Government initiatives at making childcare accessible and affordable.

“There had been reports of problems with the HMRC-run Childcare Service website, which has been a cause for concern. We’ll examine the impact of these failures on the take-up of Government initiatives that aim to make childcare affordable.”

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Notes to Editors

• The Childcare Inquiry webpage, where evidence can be submitted, will be here shortly. The full terms of reference for the inquiry are as follows:

Terms of Reference

This inquiry will examine childcare policy in the context of labour productivity, and childcare policy implementation, principally covering:

Some of the key questions the Committee will consider in this inquiry include:

• The details for the first evidence session for this inquiry are as follows: