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Childcare Bill

I drew a diagram, and I think that the hon. Member for Worthing, West (Peter Bottomley) has expressed the situation clearly. I drew a circle to incorporate everything that ““taught”” meant. Learning and experience was clearly a sub-set of ““taught””, so ““taught”” means a great deal more than learning and experience. That is clear. The Minister questioned whether learning and experience could be applied to matters and skills—but when I visited the most excellent early years centre that I have ever seen, there was complete free choice for all the young children. Nothing was structured. The experience led me to ask some questions. I was given an example. If, for instance, some children decided that they wanted to fly kites, and it was found that there were not enough kites, others who wished to join them would have to make kites. For that they would need to find scissors from the cupboard. They would need to find paper. They would use scissors because they wanted to make kites, like the others. That is a clear example where one might say, ““You must be taught how to use scissors.”” However, in the early years, we are talking of a skill that is acquired by learning and experience, when that skill is wanted. I question whether the Minister is right on this point.