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Childcare Bill

I thank the Minister for taking us through those drafting errors. She was right to point out that we have to guard against unintended consequences. Indeed, there are a number of other unintended consequences, which I outlined in my opening speech. The Government have not yet proposed amendments to clarify all those issues, but we hope that that will come shortly. It is important to ensure clarity in legislation. I welcome these minor and relatively technical housekeeping points, but the more important point is that we should always strive for consistency and clarity in whatever the House does. Others have to interpret what we do here and we should always bear that in mind. It may sometimes suit us, and indeed the Government, to have terms couched with some opaqueness or in ways that are not entirely clear, for fear of making a mistake or drawing a line or nailing our colours to the mast in certain instances. I would always support the Minister in her attempts to ensure that everything that we do here is clear and I hope that clarity is the watchword for all the Bills that we debate.