---

Childcare Bill

I take that point. I recognise that sustainability and availability are a particular problem in rural areas, which makes the case for giving a proper role to local authorities, as the Bill does. The third aspect of my case for the Bill is the stage that we have reached in the development of the national child care strategy. Other speakers have rightly drawn attention to the progress since 1997: free nursery education for all three and four-year-olds; more than 500 Sure Start children centres, including those in my constituency in Askern, Bentley and Moorends, which are transforming people’s lives; and a child care tax credit, which, as I reminded the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May), reaches 337,000 families at a cost of £900 million, compared with just 47,000 who benefited from family credit. Now we need to move from a much improved patchwork of provision to a durable framework to meet child care needs.