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Childcare Bill

Amendments Nos. 2 and 6 raise the age for child care for disabled children to 18, albeit by a somewhat tortuous route. They reflect an amendment that was tabled in Committee by my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) and discussed at length. The fact that it was amendment No. 239 gives the House an idea of how much scrutiny the Bill has received. That amendment received support from Mencap, which shared our concern that although a 14-year-old non-disabled child would be sufficiently independent not to require child care, there is no good reason to suppose that a disabled child’s need for child care will end at the age of 16. Securing it only to that age leaves a problematic gap that hon. Members will have encountered in relation to children with special needs or those who are cared for, in that all too often they seem to fall off the end of the Government’s list when they reach the age of 16. In this case, we were particularly concerned that 17 and 18-year-olds might not have access to adult services and would also fall off the end of the list. In Committee, we discussed the fact that child care costs in the UK remain the highest in Europe. For parents of disabled children, they are often twice those of the parents of non-disabled children. As we know, half of all families with a disabled child live in poverty, or are on the margins of it, so costs are a matter of great concern. In Committee, the Minister reassured my hon. Friends that the Bill already met the needs of parents with disabled children and that provision for 16 and 17-year-olds was already there, although children of that age may not want to be included. I am glad that she and her colleagues have had a change of heart about that. They have listened to the arguments and understood that parents are deeply concerned about their children when they reach this age. I am glad that they have recognised the shortcomings of the Bill in this respect. The Bill is all about giving parents choice in child care, and the amendment helps to ensure that that choice is extended to all parents of children in this group, whose needs may be greater and last longer than those of others. I hope that it will help families who have to deal with the practical realities of caring for disabled children each and every day. I had hoped that the Minister would have a change of heart on several other issues that we have discussed here and in Committee, but perhaps we will have to leave those for another day. I confirm our support for amendments Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9, which will help to ensure that children’s information services provide information about child care for disabled children and about services, facilities and publications that may be of benefit to disabled children and their families. It is all very well our passing laws, but if we do not tell people about their implications, it is not good enough. It is particularly important to recognise the need to communicate differently to this set of parents, who may need to hear about what is available to them in different ways. We are pleased to support the amendment and glad that on this particular issue the Government have listened to the powerful arguments that have been made.