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Childcare Bill

My Lords, we have been working with Montessori and others to analyse costs. It is not our view that those businesses would go out of business. It is a matter of conjecture what will happen in a number of years when we see the available funding and this entitlement extended. However, if we allowed this regime to take effect, parents would definitely be faced in some circumstances with fees—possibly substantial fees—in order to access part of the entitlement that, in the Bill, is regarded as free for other settings. We do not regard that as an acceptable situation. It could lead to a situation in which the only setting in an area available for the very children about whom the noble Baroness was talking was one that charged fees for this additional provision. That would have the effect of closing that provision to the very children who need it most.