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Childcare Bill

I suggest to the Minister that she look at the record, because my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham moved an amendment to that very effect to the Children Act 2004 and Ministers refused to accept it. The outcomes that I have set out would not be accepted by anybody in this House for their own children. We must not accept them for those in our care. We will table amendments to address the issue of looked-after children, and I urge the Minister to look sympathetically at those amendments—more sympathetically than the Government have done at our attempts to help looked-after children in the past. Early-years care is about more than simply enabling parents to work. It is about giving children the best start possible and supporting parents in their role as a child’s primary educator. We look forward to trying to ensure that the Bill delivers what we all want for Britain’s parents, but—most important—for those who are our future, our country’s children.